The Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment has joined forces with Ghanaian start-up Scopeg AI to give young people without internet access discounted and free daily use of Funza AI, an artificial intelligence service that operates through SMS.
The platform, developed by the youth-led technology company Scopeg AI, allows users to ask questions by text message and receive an AI-generated answer within seconds. It works on every type of mobile phone, including basic handsets often known as “yam phones”.
Funza AI is due to launch nationally across Ghana by the end of November 2026. Young people taking part in the ministry’s youth entrepreneurship programmes will then be offered subsidised access, together with a limited number of free daily SMS queries.
Users will be able to access the service from any mobile network in the country by sending a question to a dedicated short code. The system operates over basic 2G mobile signals, meaning that a smartphone, mobile application, Wi-Fi connection or data bundle is not required.
More than nine million people in Ghana do not use the internet, representing about a quarter of the country’s population. Most of those excluded are young people.
Supporting education, farming and employment
Funza AI is intended to help students with study support, farmers seeking agricultural information, small business owners and young jobseekers looking for career advice.
As part of the agreement, young people enrolled in the ministry’s programmes will receive reduced rates and a restricted daily allowance of free SMS queries. The partnership is part of Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment George Opare Addo’s efforts to support Ghanaian start-ups and broaden partnerships focused on youth development.
Opare Addo restated the ministry’s commitment to helping youth-led businesses in Ghana expand products designed to tackle digital exclusion.
Scopeg AI Chief Executive Officer Klenam Kofi Tamakloe, who co-founded the company with Chief Operating Officer Kelvin Peprah, said Funza AI was modelled on the way mobile money extended financial services to people using feature phones.
The company is launching the service as Ghana increases its national investment in artificial intelligence.
“This partnership means a great deal to us, not just as a company, but as young Ghanaians who built this platform because we understood what it feels like to be left out of something that could genuinely change your life,” Tamakloe said in a statement.
“To have the Ministry back that mission, and help bring discounted access to the very young people it was designed for, is exactly the kind of validation a youth-led startup like ours needs,” he added.
The late-November rollout will take place alongside wider artificial intelligence literacy initiatives.
