Sabi
/sah-bee/ — "to know" in Nigerian Pidgin
An AI tutor any child can reach by calling a phone number. No smartphone. No internet. No cost.
The Learning Crisis
Children go to school for a decade and come out unable to read.
98M
Children out of school in Sub-Saharan Africa
7 in 10
Nigerian 10-year-olds who cannot read a single sentence
16%
Of planned learning that actually happens in schools
The Answer Is Already in Their Pocket
600 million people in Africa have no internet. But 70% have a mobile phone. In Lagos, 95% of households have one. 2G coverage is 99%.
What if we used the infrastructure that already exists?
How Sabi Works
A child dials a phone number. Sabi does the rest.
Child calls the number
Works on any phone — even a $5 feature phone. No app, no data, no account needed.
Sabi greets them by name
New callers introduce themselves once. Returning callers are recognized instantly.
A lesson begins
Sabi teaches at the child's actual level using scenarios they know — market transactions, Naira, everyday Lagos life.
5-7 minutes, one concept
Short, focused calls. Gets harder when the child is ready. Slows down when they struggle.
Child calls back tomorrow
Sabi remembers everything — their name, their level, their mistakes. Picks up exactly where they left off.
A Real Sabi Conversation
The Science Behind Sabi
Every design choice is backed by research from Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Madagascar, and global RCTs.
9x
Market math vs. abstract math
Children solved comparable subtraction tasks 9x more often in market framing than in formal school format (48.5% vs 5.4%).
1.5-2 years
Learning gains in 6 weeks
World Bank RCT in Nigeria: AI tutoring delivered 1.5-2 years of learning gains in just 6 weeks.
7% → 45%
Reading with no teachers
In Tanzania, children given only tablets went from 7% to 45% reading ability in 15 months — without any teachers.
$0.50-5
Per student per year
10-100x cheaper than any alternative. At $2/student, reaching 100,000 children costs $200,000/year.
Built for the Last Mile
Any Phone
Works on a $5 feature phone. No smartphone, no internet, no app download. Just a phone call.
Persistent Memory
Sabi remembers every child — their name, their level, their mistakes. Picks up where they left off.
Completely Free
Toll-free calls. No subscription. No paywall. Sponsored by Education for Equality, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
For developers & organizations
Build on the Sabi voice API — or fund a cohort
The same African-accent voice pipeline behind Sabi, rentable per minute. Speech-to-text, LLM, and Nigerian voice in one call — from $0.06/min, 1,000 minutes free every month.
Try Sabi Right Now
We're not building another education app that sits in an app store. We're building something a mother hears about at church, dials after dinner, and hands to her child for five minutes.