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GSMA Innovation Fund awards DeafTawk $250,000 grant

The GSMA Innovation Fund for Assistive Tech recently awarded DeafTawk, a Pakistani sign language interpretation platform, a grant of $250,000.

The GSMA Innovation Fund was launched in September 2020 with the support of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). The Fund for Assistive Tech was set up with the objective of finding and uplifting startups, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and social enterprises in Africa and Asia that are aimed at promoting the digital inclusion of people with disabilities by addressing one or more of the following barriers: access, affordability, relevance, knowledge and skills, and safety and security.

A total of 350 applications from 31 countries in the Africa and Asia region were submitted to avail this opportunity, with 4 ventures selected to be awarded grants. DeafTawk is one of these grantees, as its provision of real-time, on demand access to sign language interpretation services is extremely valuable to the deaf community of 9 million in Pakistan.

Ali Shabbar, the CEO of DeafTawk, said regarding this achievement, “we are delighted to be a part of The GSMA Innovation Fund for Assistive Tech. This grant will certainly help us improve our product and allow us to create a positive impact on the lives of the hearing impaired community across Pakistan. We look forward to working with the GSMA team.” 

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