About
From one hackathon in Lagos to a continental movement
ARVR Africa is a continent-wide initiative by Imisi 3D to build a community of XR technology creators across Africa.
Our story
It started on the 6th floor in Yaba
On 19 November 2016, at Co-Creation Hub in Yaba, Lagos, Imisi 3D organised Nigeria’s first VR hackathon — quite possibly the first in Africa. Five teams spent the day building virtual reality experiences for education, healthcare, and tourism. Team LeVRn won with an app that taught coding inside a virtual environment.
What began as one Nigerian event became a movement. The meetup and masterclass programme launched in 2017 and has run continuously since. In 2018 the hackathon went continental, spanning seven countries. In 2020 it went online and drew registered participants from 28 African countries. In 2022, sponsored by Meta, it reached 42 countries through a nine-month programme spanning ARVR Africa Training, the ARVR Africa Hackathon, and the ARVR Africa Bootcamp.
Along the way the community put down roots: labs in Kigali, Maputo, and Dakar; bootcamps that turned winning teams into startups; the first-ever African delegation to a major global XR event at Laval Virtual 2021; and community chapters bringing XR to new cities.
NOV 2016 · CO-CREATION HUB, LAGOS · PHOTO: MOHINI UFELI
2022 · ARVR AFRICA HACKATHON
Mission
From consumers to creators
Our mission is to change the African narrative from one of consumers to creators of exponential technologies. Extended reality is a defining technology of this generation — and Africans should be among those who shape it, not only those it is shipped to.
That is what it means to be responsible ancestors: building the skills, the tools, the community, and the track record so that the next generation of African creators starts further ahead than we did.
“The goal of the hackathon was always twofold: an event to inspire innovative creation for virtual reality, and a first step to making Nigerian VR experiences available to the world.”
— JUDITH OKONKWO, 2016
ARVR Africa and Imisi 3D
One organisation, continent-wide community
ARVR Africa is the community brand of Imisi 3D. Imisi 3D is a leading African XR Creation Lab based in Lagos, Nigeria. The two names refer to the same organisation.
Imisi 3D was founded by Judith Okonkwo, who serves as its CEO and as the convener of ARVR Africa.
5,000+
hackathon participants over 10 years
42
countries reached in the 2022 hackathon
3
labs outside Nigeria — Kigali, Maputo, Dakar
2016
building the community since