Charlette N’Guessan who is an engineer from Cote d’Ivoire always had a knack for technology and decided to pursue a career in software development. In 2018, Charlette and her team of four inventors created BACE API, a facial recognition software powered by artificial intelligence. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and the company quickly grew in popularity.
The existing facial recognition technology is not widely employed in Africa, partly because the technology available up till now has not been adept at identifying and differentiating the faces of Black people. US government tests of the best Western-developed facial recognition systems have shown them to misidentify Black people at rates up to five to 10 times higher than they do White people.
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Also, report revealed that Ghanaian banks are plaque by widespread identity fraud and cybercrime and spend nearly $400 million a year to identify their customers.
Charlette and her team invented BACE API, to address this limitation of commonly available facial recognition software. The software is able to identify people’s faces with incredible accuracy, which makes it perfect for security applications.
Today, BACE Group is one of the leading providers of facial recognition software in Africa. Since launching BACE Group, Charlette has become a well-known figure in the tech community. She has been interviewed by major media outlets including CNN and spoken at industry events.
BACE API is the go-to provider for identity verification. Financial institutions and other customer-facing industries rely on its ability to verify users’ identities remotely, which is made possible by its integration into existing apps and systems. What’s more, BACE API uses live images or short videos to determine if images are of real people rather than pre-existing photographs. This makes it a highly reliable solution that businesses can trust.
In 2020, African Giant Charlette and her team won the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation which is the sum of £25,000. And she is the first woman to ever win it!
This is a groundbreaking development for Africa as the innovative new cyber security system help verify the identities of people online, which can help protect them from scams and other malicious activities.
