Ghana rolls out Funza AI, an SMS-based AI tool for offline youth
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on 3News
Illustrative image · cottonbro studio · Pexels · Licence PexelsGhana’s Ministry of Youth is partnering with start-up Scopeg AI to offer free or discounted access to Funza AI, an SMS-based artificial intelligence platform that works without internet. A national rollout is planned by the end of November 2026, according to 3News. More than nine million Ghanaians, about a quarter of the population, do not use the internet.
Ghana’s Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment has partnered with Ghanaian start-up Scopeg AI to give young people without internet free or discounted daily access to Funza AI, an artificial intelligence platform that works by SMS, according to 3News. A national rollout is planned by the end of November 2026, for participants in the ministry’s entrepreneurship programmes.
Users send their question by SMS to a short code, on any network, and receive an AI-generated answer within seconds. The service runs on the 2G signal and works on all phones, including basic ones: no smartphone, app, Wi-Fi or data plan is required.
Ghana has more than nine million people who do not use the internet, about a quarter of the population, mostly young people. Funza AI targets students seeking academic support, farmers, small entrepreneurs and young jobseekers. Young people enrolled in the ministry’s initiatives will benefit from discounted rates and a limited quota of free requests per day.
Youth Minister George Opare Addo reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to supporting youth-led Ghanaian businesses. Scopeg AI’s chief executive, Klenam Kofi Tamakloe, co-founder with chief operating officer Kelvin Peprah, said he designed Funza AI on the model of mobile money, which brought financial services to basic phones.
