Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Makola AI ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our vocal commerce platform and related services.

2. Information We Collect

Account Information

Full name, phone number, business name, market name, business address, account role, and mobile money account details provided during registration or payment setup.

Identity verification data

Vendors provide the full name and identification number shown on their Ghana Card. We use this information for manual identity review, fraud prevention, account recovery, and payout security. Ghana Card numbers are encrypted at rest, restricted to authorized administrators, and are not used to sell or unlock a subscription.

Vocal Data

As a voice-driven platform, we process audio streams and transcripts to identify product names, quantities, prices, and transaction intent. Audio is processed by Makola AI and third-party AI processors, including OpenAI, Google Gemini, Deepgram, and Khaya AI, to provide the voice selling and chat features. We do not use raw audio for model training unless you explicitly authorize it.

Camera Data

When you use the inventory scanner feature, camera or selected photo access is used to capture product, shelf, or receipt images. Images may be processed by Makola AI and third-party AI vision processors to detect products and create inventory records.

Location Data

With your permission, we collect your location only when you choose to save your store location during business setup.

Device and Notification Data

If you allow notifications, we collect a device notification token so we can send order, payment, wallet, and account alerts to your device.

Transaction Data

We collect data related to your sales and wallet activity, including product details, customer payment references, pricing, timing, order status, payment status, and withdrawal records, to provide inventory management, payment processing, receipts, and analytics.

3. Device Permissions

Our app requests the following device permissions:

• Microphone (RECORD_AUDIO): Required for the voice-based order listening feature, which is the core functionality of the app.
• Camera: Used for scanning and photographing products for your inventory catalog.
• Photos: Used only when you choose an existing image for inventory scanning or product records.
• Location: Used when you choose to save your store location and once when you confirm a withdrawal to verify that the request is being made from Ghana. We do not track location in the background.
• Notifications: Used for order, payment, wallet, and account alerts after you grant permission.
• Internet: Required for real-time voice processing, payment processing, and data synchronization.

All permissions are requested at the time of use and can be revoked at any time through your device settings.

4. Use of Information

We use the collected information to:

• Provide and maintain the Makola AI vocal commerce service.
• Process Mobile Money (MoMo) transactions via integrated rails.
• Improve service reliability and voice recognition quality for supported market workflows.
• Generate business intelligence and sales analytics for your stall.
• Send payment, order, wallet, security, and account notifications.
• Manually verify vendor identity and prevent payouts until Ghana Card review is complete.
• Use withdrawal location and network-country information to prevent VPN-assisted payout fraud and protect account funds.

5. Payment Information

Mobile money payments are processed through our third-party payment provider. We do not store your full mobile money credentials. A 0.2% service fee is applied to mobile money transactions, which is charged to the customer.

6. Data Security

We implement industry-standard encryption and security protocols to protect your data. Ghana Card numbers are encrypted separately and only decrypted for authorized manual review. Sales data is stored locally on your device for offline access and synced to our servers when connectivity is available. Our architecture minimizes data exposure by processing information locally whenever possible.

7. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal information and we do not use your data to track you across apps or websites owned by other companies. We may share data only:

• With payment processors to complete mobile money transactions.
• With AI, voice, and vision processors, including OpenAI, Google Gemini, Deepgram, and Khaya AI, to process voice selling, chat commands, and inventory images after in-app consent.
• With messaging, cloud hosting, maps, and notification providers that process data on our behalf to operate app features.
• When required by law or legal process.
• In aggregated, anonymized form for service improvement.

Third-party service providers are required to protect user data consistently with this Privacy Policy and applicable law.

8. Data Retention and Deletion

We keep account, inventory, order, wallet, and support data while your account is active and for as long as needed to provide the service, comply with legal or financial recordkeeping obligations, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, and enforce our agreements. You can delete your account from the app settings or request deletion through our support channels. When deletion is requested, we delete or de-identify personal data unless retention is required by law, payment compliance, security, or legitimate business obligations.

9. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Request correction of inaccurate data.
• Request deletion of your account and data.
• Withdraw consent for any optional data collection.

10. Children's Privacy

Our app is designed for business vendors and is not intended for use by children under 18. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at support@makolaai.com.