The International Labour Organization (ILO) has launched SABY - the SIYB AI Buddy for You, a new AI-powered business adviser designed to make practical and trusted entrepreneurship guidance more accessible to business owners.
SABY builds on the ILO's Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme and decades of experience supporting entrepreneurs around the world. By combining this expertise with generative artificial intelligence, the tool enables entrepreneurs to discuss business challenges, explore options and make more informed decisions through a simple conversation.
The tool is part of the ILO's broader efforts to harness digital technologies and AI to expand the reach of its expertise, strengthen the delivery of its work and promote sustainable enterprises and decent work.
Starting and running a business means making decisions every day: Is my idea viable? How should I price my product? Where can I find customers? How do I manage my costs? For many entrepreneurs, timely and affordable business advice can be difficult to access, particularly for those working outside established business support networks.
SABY helps address this gap. Entrepreneurs can discuss a business idea or an existing enterprise with SABY, ask questions and work through challenges in a dialogue. The tool can support them on issues ranging from assessing a business idea and understanding customers to costing, pricing, marketing and business management.
Unlike general-purpose AI tools, SABY is built around the ILO's established entrepreneurship development approach. Rather than simply providing generic answers, it asks questions to understand the entrepreneur's situation and helps them think through possible solutions.
SABY works through WhatsApp, bringing business guidance to a communication channel already used by many entrepreneurs. There is no new platform to learn or dedicated app to download. Users can start a conversation whenever a business question arises and return as their needs evolve.
SABY is designed to complement, rather than replace, entrepreneurship training and human business advisers. Training provides structured knowledge and peer learning, while human advisers bring experience, judgement and local knowledge. SABY provides an additional resource that entrepreneurs can access before, during or after training - or whenever they need support with their next business decision.
Initially introduced through SIYB trainers in Kenya, SABY has since been used by entrepreneurs across Africa. Users have sought support on practical challenges including record keeping, marketing and growth strategies, sales tracking and negotiations with customers. Early feedback has highlighted the value of receiving immediate responses and continuing the conversation through follow-up questions.
Work is also underway in Jordan to develop a localized version that can connect entrepreneurs with local services and provide guidance on relevant regulations and pathways towards business formalization.
SABY reflects a wider ILO effort to explore how AI can be used responsibly and practically to improve the delivery of its work. The goal is not simply to make more information available, but to help entrepreneurs turn trusted knowledge into better decisions - supporting stronger businesses, sustainable enterprises and decent work.
