African Languages Lab (All Lab) has been named the 2025 Innovator of the Year, USA at LocWorld’s 19th Process Innovation Challenge (PIC), held on October 15, 2025, at LocWorld54 in Monterey, USA.
Our founder, Sheriff Issaka, received the award for MansaLLM: A Unified AI Model for African Language Translation and Localization a groundbreaking initiative reshaping how the world engages with African languages through artificial intelligence and localization technology.
LocWorld’s Process Innovation Challenge recognizes global innovators advancing communication, accessibility, and inclusion.
For us at All Lab, this award is more than a milestone, it’s a validation of years of work to make African languages visible, usable, and valuable in the digital world.
“We don’t have to wait for inclusion we can build it. For Africans, by Africans.”
— Sheriff Issaka, Founder, African Languages Lab
African Languages Lab (All Lab) has been named the 2025 Innovator of the Year
Africa is home to over 2,000 languages, representing nearly one-third of the world’s linguistic diversity.
Yet, fewer than 3% of these languages are represented in today’s computational and AI systems.
This exclusion from digital ecosystems limits access to:
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MansaLLM was created to bridge that divide.
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A Unified AI Model for African Translation and LocalizationMansaLLM is a Large Language Model (LLM) designed specifically for translation and localization across African languages.Currently supporting English and 20 key African languages, from Swahili to Yoruba, Hausa to Amharic MansaLLM provides:
- Higher translation quality for low-resource languages
- Faster processing speeds and linguistic consistency
- A scalable, unified system for localization workflowsAugmenting Human ExpertiseRather than replacing translators, MansaLLM enhances their work automating repetitive tasks while preserving human creativity, tone, and cultural nuance.
MansaLLM was designed for real-world application empowering industries and communities through:
- Business & Commerce: Localized marketing and multilingual support
- Education: Translating learning materials for wider access
- Governance: Communicating policies in native languages
- Culture: Preserving oral and written traditions through translation
This unified approach makes African language support practical, affordable, and inclusive.
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What sets MansaLLM apart isn’t just the technology it’s the philosophy behind it.
By bridging AI and human translation, MansaLLM demonstrates how language equity and innovation can advance together.
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All Lab recently contributed a curated set of URLs to the Common Crawl web languages project.
17 December 2025
Mansa is now integrated into the Phrase ecosystem, advancing our mission to build scalable language technology for Africa’s diverse languages.
12 December 2025
Mansa AI is now live as a native app on Blackbird.io, thanks to a meaningful and highly productive collaboration with the Blackbird team.
3 December 2025
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