Kenyan entrepreneur Elly Savatia has won a prestigious international award for creating an AI-powered app that translates speech and text into sign language using lifelike 3D avatars.
Savatia, the brain behind Terp 360, took home the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation on October 16, receiving £50,000 ($67,000) from the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering.
He beat three other finalists at a ceremony in Dakar, Senegal.
Calling his invention “Google Translate for sign language,” Savatia explained that Terp 360 turns spoken or written words into real-time sign language through animated 3D avatars, eliminating the need for a human interpreter.
The idea came from witnessing how Kenya’s deaf community struggles daily due to a severe shortage of sign language interpreters.
“Interpreters are expensive and scarce,” Savatia said, “and that means many deaf people in Africa miss out on opportunities like higher education or formal employment.”
Even though Kenya recently passed a law requiring 5% of jobs to go to people with disabilities, many companies still can’t hire deaf workers because they lack communication tools or can’t afford interpreters. T
erp 360 is designed to fix that.
Savatia worked directly with deaf and hard-of-hearing Kenyans to build the app, recording over 2,300 unique signs and common phrases.
His team used motion sensors on signers’ hands to capture precise gestures and train the AI system.
While similar avatar tools exist globally, most don’t account for African sign languages or cultural differences.
With over 300 sign languages worldwide, around 30 in Africa alone, Terp 360 currently covers English, Swahili, and Kenyan Sign Language.
By mid-2027, the team plans to add Rwandan, Ugandan, South African, British, and American sign languages, eventually expanding across more African and global languages.
They’re partnering with local NGOs and media organizations that have visual sign language archives.
A motion capture studio in Nairobi is already recording up to 1,000 signs daily for AI training.
Rebecca Enonchong, chair of the judging panel, praised Savatia’s work as “cutting-edge technology with profound social impact,” noting that assistive technology remains critically underserved worldwide, making Terp 360 a game-changer for inclusion across Africa.
