ARVR Africa

News & Media

What the community has been building

Announcements, event recaps, press coverage, and stories told in the community’s own voice.

News

Announcements and recaps

31 JAN 2026

Enugu community chapter launches with first monthly meetup

The ARVR Africa Enugu chapter launched at Beaconsmith House with a hands-on first meetup facilitated by Ortega Alikwe. Imisi 3D joined virtually, and attendees explored Meta Quest 2 headsets and SwiftXR.

10 SEP 2024

Dakar Lab opens at UCAD

The third ARVR Africa lab outside Nigeria opened at Université Cheikh Anta Diop, housed within the CURI centre and hosted by Professor Idrissa Sarr. Judith Okonkwo and the Imisi 3D team attended in person, and the launch included workshops.

5 APR 2023

Seventeen hackathon teams pitch at Demo Day in Lagos

After three months in the ARVR Africa Bootcamp, the seventeen first-place winners of the 2022 ARVR Africa Hackathon, from sixteen countries, pitched their MVPs to industry leaders, investors, and the wider XR ecosystem at The Village Garden, Lagos.

A team presents at the 2023 Demo Day in Lagos

DEC 2022

First lab outside Nigeria opens in Kigali

The ARVR Africa Kigali Lab opened at African Leadership University, Rwanda — the first of the labs beyond Lagos, followed by Maputo in 2023 and Dakar in 2024.

2022

The ARVR Africa Hackathon reaches 42 countries

Sponsored by Meta, the nine-month 2022 programme spanned ARVR Africa Training, a hybrid ARVR Africa Hackathon across 16 in-person and 26 virtual countries, and the ARVR Africa Bootcamp for the winners.

Participants at the 2022 ARVR Africa Hackathon

7–9 JUL 2021

First African delegation at Laval Virtual

Six African XR companies and one student team formed an African pavilion at Laval Virtual in France — the first-ever African delegation at a major global XR event.

OCT 2022

Africa XR Ecosystem Report published

The report maps companies, startups, freelancers, and academics working in XR across Africa. Read it at africaxrreport.com.

In the press

As covered by

2016

TechCabal

Coverage of Nigeria’s first VR hackathon at Co-Creation Hub, Lagos.

2016

CcHUB

Co-Creation Hub’s account of hosting the first VR hackathon in Nigeria.

2021

Laval Virtual

On the first African delegation and pavilion at Laval Virtual, France.

2025

IQOQO

Recent coverage of ARVR Africa and the African XR ecosystem.

Community stories

In their own words

FEB 2026 · BY ORTEGA ALIKWE

Launching the Enugu chapter

The facilitator of the Enugu community chapter on bringing XR to a new city — first headsets, first builds, and a first monthly meetup at Beaconsmith House.

JUL 2017 · BY OLAIWOLA BOLAJI

Inside the first ARVR Africa meetup

A community member’s account of the first meetup at the Google Nigeria office — talks on game development, Unreal Engine, and 360 media.