Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa’s Econet launches Shona 2.0 AI model

Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa’s Econet has launched an upgraded artificial intelligence model designed to improve how its customer service chatbot understands and responds to Shona, expanding the group’s use of AI in its telecommunications operations.

Econet AI Zimbabwe, a wholly owned subsidiary of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, introduced Shona 2.0 on Nov 11. The model powers Yamurai, Econet’s multilingual customer support chatbot, which handles customer enquiries across the telecommunications business.

The upgraded model is designed to understand Shona-English code switching, a common feature of everyday conversations in Zimbabwe. Econet said it can now comprehend and answer 80% of customer queries in Shona, although the company has not publicly provided independent testing or a detailed methodology supporting the figure.

The company is also training the model across six Shona dialects. Once that work is completed, Yamurai is expected to identify the dialect used by a customer and respond accordingly.

Navdeep Kapur, chief executive of Econet AI, said the model had improved through continuous training using customer interactions. He described the chatbot’s development as an ongoing process, with engineers working to make its responses more natural and useful.

The launch follows the introduction of Ndebele 1.0 in October, while Econet said development of Ndebele 2.0 was at an advanced stage, with a release targeted before the end of November.

Econet AI was established earlier this year to develop and deliver artificial intelligence products and services in Zimbabwe. The business works with Cassava AI, the artificial intelligence arm of Cassava Technologies, to access technology partnerships and enterprise AI capabilities.

The development forms part of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s broader strategy to incorporate AI into its operations and customer services. In its 2026 integrated annual report, the company identified Yamurai as a local language voice chatbot supporting round the clock customer service and said Econet AI was developing products for the Zimbabwean market.

Masiyiwa founded Econet and remains its founder and executive chairman. He also founded Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, in which Forbes lists him as holding a 38% stake. He retired from the Zimbabwean mobile operator’s board in Feb 2022.

The Shona 2.0 launch adds another local language application to Econet’s AI strategy, as telecommunications operators seek to use artificial intelligence to improve customer support and make digital services more accessible to African-language speakers.