Chérif Kounta, a 14-year-old from Burkina Faso, has built FasoNova, an artificial intelligence assistant that serves people in Burkina Faso and across Africa. Beyond answering questions, the tool includes a mission mode that walks users through a goal step by step, and it teaches students the method behind a problem before it checks their answer. Kounta, who runs the company Alpha AI, started developing FasoNova at 13.
A user with 1 million CFA francs who wants to open a telecom shop, for example, can ask FasoNova to estimate the timeline and costs, list the products to buy and suggest suppliers. Students get a different kind of help, because the assistant explains how to approach an exercise before giving any answer, then flags errors and provides a detailed correction once the student resubmits the work. Kounta is building the tool around national languages, local culture and everyday use, and trains it mainly on public resources.
On privacy, Kounta says FasoNova encrypts user data and stores it on private cloud servers that developers cannot access, and that the company neither sells the data nor uses it to train other AI models.
Kounta’s interest in technology dates to the age of four, when his father gave him a tablet. He built an interactive calendar at 10 and created TruFinder, an AI tool that fights misinformation, at 11. His parents first worried about screen time but now support his work, and they have paid for his training and equipment.
Without any outside funding, he spends about two hours a day on FasoNova and Alpha AI during the school year and works on the project on Saturdays from 2 pm to 6 pm. His advice to other young people is to start with a concrete project, because resources and support tend to follow.
FasoNova currently runs on the web, where it describes itself as a free French-language assistant that needs no sign-up, and Kounta is preparing an app for Google Play. Money remains his main constraint, so he is seeking financial backing and partnerships with research centres, universities and developers while he plans new features for health facilities and public administration.
The young techie came up with FasoNova as Burkina Faso builds its own AI framework, with authorities approving a national roadmap for 2026 to 2030 under the RELANCE plan. It prioritises health, agriculture, education, public administration, and water and energy, and it joins similar strategies in Rwanda, Senegal, Benin, Egypt and Kenya.
Africa Global News Publication.
