Cynoia Brings Project Management to 200 Million More Africans with Swahili and Wolof Language Support

Cynoia, which provides a professional collaboration software suite has introduced a major upgrade as it now supports Swahili and Wolof languages. The new feature provides access to more than 200 million people in East and West Africa, enabling teams from Nairobi to Dakar to arrange projects and communicate and collaborate through their preferred native languages.

In contrast, Swahili is spoken by 180 million people across East Africa, while Wolof is understood by 20-25 million people, spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania. This is a giant leap toward accessibility for African business software. For the very first time, organizations around this region can use enterprise-class management, communication, and teamwork tools in their own languages.

“This is about more than just translation — it is inclusion in its real sense,” said Nassreddine Riahi, CEO of Cynoia. “If a project manager based in Mombasa can use professional tools in their own language or a startup team in Dakar can do the same, everything changes. Productivity improves, adoption accelerates, and teams start focusing on the work instead of the unfamiliar interfaces.”

Breaking Down Language Barriers in African Tech

With this expansion, Cynoia is directly addressing a key problem that African businesses and nonprofits face: working with collaboration tools designed for other regions and languages, which typically slows down these small enterprises and NGOs and startups, which are the real engines of growth throughout the continent.

“We have seen talented teams being held back by English- or French-only software,” said Felipe Millan, Chief Marketing Officer. “A leader in rural Kenya should not have to mentally translate before updating a task. A community group in Senegal should not lose efficiency because their tools don’t speak their language. Cynoia brings Swahili and Wolof to change that reality.”

The update now introduces the Spanish language so that Cynoia can serve over 700 million users across the globe, while it continues prioritizing the African markets.

Empowering Local Communities with Cynoia Impact

This new ability in many languages greatly complements Cynoia’s Impact program that provides NGOs and nonprofits with a 50% discount in their first year. Local groups now have more capacity to coordinate projects, manage volunteers, and track outcomes through tools provided in their local languages.

Startups get free use of the software for three months, after which they pay half price for nine months. Educational institutions are entitled to 40% discounts so that professional collaboration can be engaging and affordable for all.

“Language accessibility is critical for grassroots organizations. When a health NGO in rural Tanzania or a women’s cooperative in Senegal can use project management tools in their local language, they really are more effective in serving their communities,” stated Ayoub Rabeh, Chief Product Officer.

Full Enterprise Features in Swahili and Wolof

Developers using these languages have total access to nearly all the features offered by Cynoia:

• Task and project tracking with real-time updates on progress
• Budget analyses with expenditure forecasts
• Team messaging, chat, @mentions, and file sharing
• Video calling is optimized according to the internet speed
• Collaborative documentation with shared notes
• Calendar integration and Google Calendar syncing

A design for the platform that is bandwidth-efficient makes it quite suitable for working in regions with slower internet connectivity, a very important factor for many African users.

Building a Foundation for Inclusive AI

This multilingual expansion sets a stepping stone for Cynoia’s AI engine, Hannibal, which is slated to launch later in 2025. From the very first day, this AI assistant will provide support for users in their preferred language, hence cementing access to AI-driven productivity across the whole continent.

“Hannibal will democratize AI for Africa—but only if it speaks the languages people actually use,” explained Nermine Slimane, Chief Technology Officer. “This update ensures our AI will be truly inclusive when it arrives.”

Security and Accessibility Go Hand in Hand

Along with language support, Cynoia is pursuing ISO 27001/42001 and SOC 2 Type 2 certifications, underscoring its commitment to placing security first and maintaining user-friendliness for African businesses.

“Security and accessibility aren’t opposites,” Slimane said. “African companies deserve tools that are both safe and culturally relevant.”

Immediate Availability and Impact

The Swahili and Wolof options are currently live for all Cynoia plans, including the free Community Plan for teams of up to 10 users. Cynoia helps businesses lower software costs by almost 80%, combining multiple tools into one platform.

Cynoia, awarded Best SaaS Startup at AfricArena Grand Summit 2024, is expanding across Africa with users in Tunisia, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, and Rwanda.

“This is more than adding languages,” said Riahi. “It’s about acknowledging that African businesses deserve software that understands their context, respects their culture, and speaks their language. Today, Cynoia brings Swahili and Wolof to 200 million more people—and changes the way they work.”

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