A Washington, D.C.-based company, iManagement Consulting, has launched an “Afro Emoji” app with West African themed character stickers. The stickers consist of an array of interesting characters in traditional African attires accompanied with everyday pidgin phrases used on the continent.
Phrases include “Abeg no vex” (please, don’t be annoyed), “Chai!” (an exclamation of surprise) and “Akwaaba” (“Welcome” in the Ghanaian language Twi)
“We, as Africans, definitely have an idiosyncratic way of communicating with one another,” Afro Emoji team leader Ayoola Daramola told CNN.
“This is really a fun, accessible graphic depiction of that. For a continent of almost 1 billion, we are woefully represented and this really grated with me, so I decided to do something about it,”
“I was also inspired by the rate at which mobile adoption in Africa is so rapid, so aggressive. The way Africans communicate, both at home and abroad, is really changing very quickly,” Daramola said.
A Mauritius-based app company called Oju Africa was the first app launched for African emojis in 2014 when it announced that it was tackling the lack of racial diversity by introducing its own set of Afro emoticons on Google Play Store.
“Afro Emoji” app is available for free download on Android and Apple devices. The company is offering 50 free stickers, while 300+ stickers cost $1.99 as part of an in-app purchase setup.
