Mana Jampala: The 12-year-old wizard who built an AI assistant for small businesses

A Gen Alpha wizard has built an AI-powered receptionist to help businesses build clientele. Meet Mana Jampala, a 12-year-old living in British Columbia, Canada, who is currently going viral for her AI creation. Jampala, a member of Generation Alpha, has done something unthinkable, becoming an entrepreneur at such a young age.

She is the founder of Voxa, an AI-powered voice assistant that answers calls around the clock. It also books appointments, takes several orders from restaurants at once, while providing a summary of each call once it ends, Business Insider reported. Jampala launched the product in November 2025, and it’s not even a year old, but already fielding hundreds of calls.

More from Explainers

The 12-year-old told the publication that the idea stemmed from her time at her father’s workplace, where she noticed that small businesses often miss a barrage of client calls, resulting in lost revenue. The idea of “Voxa” was then born. 

We take a look.

The Gen Alpha wizard

As an 11-year-old, Jampala used to visit her dad’s office regularly. She then noticed: “They'd miss a lot of calls. They are a very small team, so they'd be super busy. They'd either ignore them or not notice them at all.”

According to her, some missed calls may appear of little consequence; however, it was the lost revenue that added up. That’s when Voxa entered. Detailing the AI-powered receptionist, Jampala said: “The 24/7 voice assistant can answer calls, book staff appointments, record restaurant orders, manage missed calls, and create summaries after each call.” 

Mana Jampala is the founder of Voxa, an AI-powered voice assistant that answers calls around the clock. Image courtesy: X

The innovation has not even been a year old, but it’s already handling hundreds of calls, the 12-year-old said, adding that she is in the process of securing her first paying customer. 

"Ideally, the trajectory would look something like bootstrapping for a year or two, then getting into an accelerator like Y Combinator or A16z. Once I'm done with the accelerator part, I just continue to maintain steady growth. Once I'm at the correct stage, I'll look toward venture capital and continue to scale,” Jampala told Insider.

She also launched a platform called Voxa Agents that enables users to create AI agents using simple prompts, allowing customers to achieve results in plain language, the report noted.

AI enthusiast since 9

Her interest in AI was not an accident- numerous children of her age are dwelling in the world of technology with deep interests. Jampala is from the same cohort and is fascinated by the advanced AI systems. 

She told the publication that she gained interest in AI when she was 9. Since then, Jampala has attended Scratch coding camps, learned Python, earned a special prize in a collegiate-level science competition during a visit to India, and received a grant from the 1517 Medici Project. Her zeal for it only grew. The 1517 Fund backs ambitious high school and college students, dropouts, and startup builders.

"I've always really been interested in starting a business in the technology field," she asserted

Jampala’s startup work has been more of a solitary journey: “I really like it, but sometimes it does feel isolating. In my area, I don't really know any other people my age doing this,” she told Insider. However, luckily, she has connected with like-minded kids on online platforms like Discord. 

"I've been meeting a lot of awesome people — a bunch of 13-year-olds who know how to code and who are running startups...," Jampala said.

“Wait, how old are you?” 

Being an entrepreneur and building a company at 12 has its ups and downs. The 12-year-old initially pitched the “Voxa” idea to local businesses in person; however, her age often got in the way.

The reactions she received were: “Wait, how old are you?” “Does a parent help you with this? Is it just by yourself?” Jampala told the outlet about a bunch of these reactions. So, beyond face-to-face pitching, she has attempted to expand her outreach to prospective clients online.

"Their responses were not as age-focused. Maybe it was the in-person effect, but these people are a bit more product-focused." 

According to the report, she has so far relied on a mix of cold outreach and using her networks to meet customers. Among those conversations was a meeting with the CEO of her city's Chamber of Commerce. "My strategy right now is to use my connections and ask them for warm intros because they convert better than doing cold outreach,” she said.

Jampala said persuading some businesses to adopt AI into their work can be a tough nut to crack, but she is hopeful.  

With inputs from agencies