Sulaiman Adewale’s innovative creation, Xara, an AI-powered banking assistant, began as a personal solution for his short-sightedness but rapidly evolved into a groundbreaking financial tool. His success with Xara even garnered an unexpected job offer from xAI, which Adewale viewed as an additional layer of validation for his product.

Initially designed as an accessibility tool, Xara functioned by leveraging a phone’s camera to capture an account number and facilitate money transfers. Over ten months since its launch, Xara has significantly expanded its capabilities, now serving as a personal financial analyst. Users can engage with it to inquire about past transactions, such as identifying frequent recipients, or to set future instructions, like scheduling daily transfers for a specified period. Adewale proudly positions Xara as a pioneering platform, noting that while similar concepts exist globally, most are limited to basic support functions. Unlike the top three AI use cases for Nigerian financial institutions – fraud detection, customer support, and credit scoring, as per the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) – Xara aims to transform the conversational interface itself into the primary banking environment.

Xara operates seamlessly on WhatsApp, appearing as a contact that comprehends users' financial data and can execute transactions on their behalf. The choice to build on WhatsApp was strategic, aiming for simplicity and familiarity, especially for Nigeria’s older generation. However, developing an AI banking assistant capable of initiating transactions presented considerable technical hurdles. Adewale emphasized the challenge of