Startup Story
Ady Namaran Coulibaly is Co-Founder and Quality and Compliance Manager of Bolingo Consult, a language services company established in 2019, which currently has offices in Ghana and Rwanda and a 10-person strong workforce. Through Bolingo Consult, Ady supports organisations and businesses looking to engage populations in Africa in their mother tongues and expand their reach within the continent. Ady is an ardent promoter of African languages, having co-founded the African Languages Conference.
LoA spoke to the passion-driven Ady Namaran Coulibaly to learn more about her entrepreneurial journey and her vision for the future of her business.
What does your company do?
Bolingo Consult is a multiple language services provider specializing in African languages. The company provides localization, translation, and interpretation services for NGOs and businesses operating in Africa and in other parts of the globe. We work with over 500 language professionals (including translators and interpreters) to meet client needs for language services. Our impact has been to facilitate language inclusion for populations in Africa, ensuring that no one is left behind, and raising the digital profile of African languages.
“Our impact has been to facilitate language inclusion for populations in Africa, ensuring that no one is left behind, and raising the digital profile of African languages.”
What inspired you to start your company?
After completing an MPhil in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria in 2019, I aimed to work with the African Union (AU) although Bolingo Consult had been registered in that same year. However, the Covid 19 pandemic disrupted my chances of working with the AU at that time. I was compelled to reflect on the competencies and skills I had acquired up until that time, and how best I could harness them. The choice became clear: I was convinced that I could make a significant contribution to the language services industry, and went ahead to kickstart the operations of Bolingo Consult together with my business partner, Emmanuel Clifford Gyetuah.
What makes your business, service or product special?
Our services enable populations in Africa to access information in their native languages. Through localization and translation, Bolingo Consult ensures that vital information, such as healthcare guidelines, educational materials, and government policies are translated into indigenous African languages. This allows local populations to access and understand information critical for their growth and development.
Aside from focusing on facilitating access to information to populations in their mother tongue and delivering language services that meet the needs of our clients, we have carried out several initiatives that are aligned with the vision of the company. There are three (3) key initiatives that demonstrate our vision and mission. These are multilingual publishing, Akannews.com and Kingura.
Multilingual Publishing: We published “Ami Series”, a children’s book on the environment available in Twi, Ewe, Zulu, Swahili and Arabic. (https://books.bolingoconsult.com/product/ami-series-ebook/ )
Akannews.com: We also developed “akannews.com”(https://akannews.com/), the first ever website in Twi and Fante. The website provides articles on tradition and culture, health and entertainment.
Kingura: (https://kingura.com/) This is a platform that we developed to make available various courses in African languages.
“I believe that the mission we have set for ourselves as a business - to unlock confidence in African languages - is one that is much needed in the times that we live in.”
Tell us a little about your team
Our team is composed of full-time employees of the company, but we also like to include close to 500 language professionals and freelancers with whom we collaborate regularly to provide language services. The full-time staff include myself as the Quality and Compliance Manager, and my business partner, Emmanuel Clifford Gyetuah, who is the Growth Manager. We also have an Operations Manager, two Project Managers, a Business Development Manager, a Human Resource Manager and other support staff.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
The language services industry is rapidly transforming with the advent of artificial intelligence. Yet, there are still huge gaps when it comes to the online presence of African languages and data for African languages that can be used enhance AI.
It is my hope that focusing on the two following initiatives will yield significant outcomes for African languages:
Providing data services for African languages. We have the ambition of becoming the biggest company in Africa when it comes to data services for African languages. A report titled “AI in Africa: the state and needs of the Ecosystem”, published in March 2024, revealed that one of the largest gaps in AI for Africa is the availability of language data. With African languages representing a mere 0.01999% of internet content, we see an opportunity to contribute in this area.
Build the most used e-learning platform for content in African languages: Kingura is a project that we hold dear. This platform seeks to make available online courses in African languages, for which we see a huge potential. https://kingura.com/asante-twi/
“We have the ambition of becoming the biggest company in Africa when it comes to data services for African languages.”
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
First, I believe that being an entrepreneur has completely changed me as a person. I am now more disciplined, focused, and productive than I used to be in the early days of the business. Looking back on the journey up until now fills me with lots of gratitude. Second, working with team members who are self-driven and watching them thrive and enhance their knowledge and skills through their roles gives me immense satisfaction. Lastly, I believe that the mission we have set for ourselves as a business - to unlock confidence in African languages - is one that is much needed in the times that we live in.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Choosing the path of entrepreneurship will challenge you in many ways. As such, I would always recommend having a business partner who has impeccable work ethics and who believes in the mission of the business as much as you do. With this person, you can share ideas regularly, address challenges as they arise and build together.
Find out more
Email Address: ancoulibaly@bolingoconsult.com
Your Website URL: https://bolingoconsult.com/
Your Facebook Page URL: https://web.facebook.com/bolingoconsult
Your YouTube or Vimeo Video URLs: https://www.youtube.com/@bolingoconsult
Why LoA loves it….
If Africa’s full economic potential is to be realized, it is key to ensure that every citizen can access information, knowledge, and learning opportunities in their own languages, meaning that no-one is left behind. Ady Namaran Coulibaly and her team at Bolingo Consult are playing an important role in raising the digital profile of African languages and making language inclusion a priority. This is a game-changing business on a mission to make African languages accessible to everyone. Inspirational! — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa