A decade
building Africa's
immersive technology
future.
Ten years of work across Africa.
Africa's longest-running free public XR lab.
Open on weekdays since July 2016. No fee. No application. No barrier. Walk in and experience the future, then build it.
One organisation, three doorways into immersive technology in Africa.
Imisi 3D
Nigeria's first XR creation lab. Open to the public on weekdays since July 2016. Building the ecosystem for immersive technology across Africa.
ARVR Africa
Meetups since 2017. Hackathons across 42 countries. Labs in Dakar, Maputo, and Kigali. The network that African XR built.
VR for Schools
Curriculum-aligned, evidence-based, government-endorsed. Sessions at Jibowu JSS since 2017. Backed by UNICEF and UBEC.
because you are."
This is the foundation of how ERDI operates, and how we believe progress for the continent must be built. Not through working alone, but along with the institutions, communities, researchers, teachers, creators, and builders who have chosen to show up.
100,000+ people. 5,000+ hackathon participants. 42 countries. Eight years of meetups.
Community members who walked through the lab's doors and stayed. Teachers who co-designed curriculum VR modules. Hackathon participants who became instructors. Students who tried VR for the first time and came back the next week.
In 2016, a free XR lab opened in Yaba, Lagos with that one conviction. Ten years, three brands, and 42 countries later, it has become an ecosystem.
Ten years of building.
The future to create.
The ecosystem. The evidence. The community. What comes next needs co-builders.
A mission, not a project.
Community; free public infrastructure; peer-reviewed evidence; government partnerships; and continental reach. Built through community, for the continent.
In July 2016, a free XR lab opened in Yaba, Lagos on a single conviction: Africa must create immersive technology, not merely consume it. Free access, on weekdays, would prove what was possible. Ten years and 42 countries later, that conviction has become an institution.
A thank you, to everyone who showed up.
The volunteers who came to set up our first PCs and software accounts, or just to cheer us on and let us know they were rooting for us. The many incredible people who freely shared knowledge, network and resources, supporting our programs from just a quick introduction, and sometimes a cold call.
The dedicated partners who gave us unprecedented reach, and helped us redefine the phrase 'small but mighty'. The many phenomenal people who made Imisi 3D their work home over the years, stellar ambassadors of all things immersive.
And you, the people, who kept showing up at the lab, who pitched in when there were things to be done, who got hands on with the technologies and began to create the magic we signed up for.
Thank you. Stories of who you are, and what you do, have moved more hearts and minds than you could ever imagine.
Creators, not consumers.
Africa shaping immersive technology, not simply adopting what others build.
Access as a human right.
A decade of open Lab doors, on weekdays, for anyone who walks in.
Evidence first.
Programmes designed to be measured. Claims we can demonstrate.
Responsible ancestors.
Technology built today with intentionality for the generations who will inherit it.
Ìmísí —
Yoruba for inspiration.
Nigeria's first XR creation lab. Founded July 2016. Open on weekdays at 8 Montgomery Road, Yaba, Lagos.
The infrastructure that made the African XR ecosystem possible.
100,000+ people have had their first XR experience here or through programmes that began here. It is open on weekdays, and has been for a decade.
Sector agnostic — focused on what immersive technology can do.
Imisi 3D is sector agnostic in its focus on extended reality technologies, with programmes across health, digital conservation, education, and storytelling to name a few. The lab makes the work possible: equipment, space, time, and the community to test ideas with.
Original African XR — made in Lagos.
A homage to Nigeria's commercial capital. Co-produced by Imisi 3D and Electric South, entirely made in Lagos. Premiered at IDFA 2019 DocLab Competition.
Imisi 3D served as consulting producer and co-organised public screenings in Lagos. Joel Kachi Benson, the director, is an ARVR Africa community member.
Four artists on four continents — Buenos Aires, Lagos, Paris, San Francisco — simultaneously created art in virtual reality using Masterpiece VR, centred on the theme of home. Produced by Imisi 3D and partners. Conceived at Laval Virtual 2018.
A VR and AI-based game that teaches neurotypical people how to interact with autistic children. Created by Imisi 3D. Promotes ASD awareness and reduces stigma.
Imisi 3D partnered with CyArk, Google Arts & Culture, and National Geographic on a digital mapping project at one of Nigeria's two UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
An immersive VR experience based on the 1803 Dunbar Creek event. Currently in pre-production.
Future Africa: Telling Stories, Building Worlds
Imisi 3D served as co-convening partner and mentor provider for the Future Africa grant programme — alongside Africa No Filter, Electric South, and Meta (launched December 2021). Grants of up to $30,000 supported African XR creators. Imisi 3D provided production mentorship to grantees.
From the first year — not bolted on.
- 2016 — Female-focused internships launched with Pearls Africa Foundation. Skills: 360 video, Unity, Unreal Engine, event planning, team leadership.
- 2016 — International Day of the Girl Child VR workshop with Girls Coding, Sunstretch Energy, Pearls Africa Foundation.
- 2017 — Women's VR Masterclass at the SLAY Festival.
- 2022 — ~840 women (25.8%) participated in the AR/VR Africa Metathon.
- 2023 — 7-week XR bootcamp for 8 girls aged 13–17, with InnoVationGirls and WIIT Europe, funded by WIIT Meta Grant.
- Ongoing — Partnerships with Women in Immersive Tech, She Code Africa, She Leads Africa, Pearls Africa Foundation.
Africa's XR professional
community.
Built to ensure that African creators, researchers, and innovators shape the global future of immersive technology — and build solutions for Africa and the world. Lagos to Kigali. Dakar to Maputo. 42 countries through the hackathon series.
This is what an ecosystem looks like.
Since 2017, the ARVR Africa community has gathered — in person in Lagos, virtually across the continent, without interruption. Meetups began bimonthly and became monthly in 2025. During the pandemic, they moved online and kept going. Eight years. Hundreds of sessions. Thousands of connections.
Monthly masterclasses run at the Lab, led by ARVR Africa community members and guest experts.
Training · Hackathon · Bootcamp · Demo Day.
The AR/VR Africa Hackathon is more than an event — it is a complete creator development pipeline.
| Edition | Reach | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 — Lagos | Nigeria | First VR Hackathon in Nigeria. 5 teams across healthcare, education, tourism. Winners: Team LeVRn. |
| 2018 — International | 7 African countries simultaneously | First international edition — powered by Facebook/Meta. |
| 2020 — Pan-African | 1,001 registered, 28 countries | Hybrid online + offline over 5 months. Average age 24. ~23% female. |
| 2021 — Bootcamp | Virtual, continent-wide | 3-month MVP development. 11 Teams. Demo Day pitch to investors. |
| 2022 — Metathon | 3,000+ · 16 countries in-person, 26 virtual | 9-month programme: training + hackathon + bootcamp. $70,000+ in prizes. Meta + BlackRhino VR. |
| 2023 — Bootcamp | Virtual, continent-wide | 3-month MVP development. 17 Teams. Microgrants. Demo Day pitch to investors. 21% female. |
| Cumulative | 5,000+ across 42 African countries | Across all editions combined. |
The numbers tell the story.
"When we started, there were just two women in our first hackathon. We built deliberately toward change. The numbers are moving. We are not done."
The ecosystem is now building careers, companies, and policy.
ARVR Africa community members have gone on to work at international development institutions, global consulting firms, technology companies, creative studios, universities, and policy organisations across Africa and the world — independently of any single programme or grant.
From a first XR experience at the Lab through to a career in XR.
What the community says.
The first African delegation to a global XR event.
Laval Virtual 2021 — Imisi 3D initiated and led the first African Delegation to a global XR event. 7 countries, 6 XR startups, 1 student team. Supported by Institut Français, République Française, and AFD.
- Laval Virtual MoU (2020) — collaboration between African and European XR ecosystems.
- WEF Global Future Council on the Metaverse — Member. African voice in global technology policy.
- Africa XR Report (2022) — first empirical map of Africa's XR ecosystem, co-led editorially by Imisi 3D.
- iLRN 2020 · ITU AI for Good · Harvard Graduate School of Education — research, advocacy, and policy.
Four active labs. Two beyond Anglophone Africa.
Imisi 3D — the home lab
The original. Open on weekdays for a decade. The infrastructure that made everything else possible.
African Leadership University
MoU with the department. Dedicated campus space. Equipment provided by ERDI.
InkDot (roving)
Roving model. Lusophone Africa reach. Deliberate strategy beyond Anglophone borders.
UCAD — CURI dept.
Université Cheikh Anta Diop — Francophone West Africa. XR activity at CURI originates here.
A continental platform for African XR research.
Launched 2025. A dedicated platform aggregating African XR research and connecting researchers, academics, and institutions across the continent.
Visit academics.arvrafrica.com →Immersive learning,
in the public school.
ERDI's flagship education programme — curriculum-aligned, evidence-based, endorsed by the Nigerian federal government through UBEC. Its purpose: ensure that immersive technology reaches students in Nigerian public schools.
- Concept began: 2017
- Jibowu JSS pilot began: 2019 — with UNICEF Innovation Fund support
- Term time sessions: Ongoing since 2019. Pandemic pause; resumed 2023.
- Curriculum alignment: Nigerian NERDC Junior Secondary School Curriculum · WAEC syllabus
- Government partner: UBEC — MoU signed August 2024
A standing relationship with a local public school: every term, students from Jibowu Junior Secondary School, Yaba attend VR sessions at the Lab. Not a demo or one-off visit — an embedded educational programme that has run since 2019, paused only by the pandemic, and resumed in 2023.
Built with teachers. Tested with students. In term time use.
Co-designed with Jibowu JSS teachers as subject matter experts. User-tested with students. Validated through the UNICEF-supported pilot. Not prototypes — modules in ongoing term time use.
- UNICEF Innovation Fund (2018) — international peer review and investment. 1 of 13 frontier tech startups globally.
- Co-designed with Nigerian teachers; user-tested with students before deployment.
- Okonkwo et al., 2020 — peer-reviewed research publication.
- iLRN 2020 — international conference presentation.
- UNICEF Innocenti (2021) — Global AI for Children pilot. 1 of 8 organisations globally.
- UBEC MoU (August 2024) — formal Nigerian federal government endorsement.
- Ongoing term time sessions since 2019 — a standing programme, not a one-time pilot.
Programme officers: to request the research summary or full VR for Schools evidence pack, use the contact form on the Build With Us page.
Bringing educators and policy makers into immersive learning.
- 2017 — Education stakeholders workshop. Government, secondary, and tertiary educators represented.
- Abuja — Teacher training event in partnership with UBEC. Attendees from 13 Nigerian states.
- Lagos — Teacher training sessions with Jibowu High School teachers.
Agentic AI + VR for Nigerian public Junior Secondary Schools.
EdgeLearn is ERDI's proposed next-generation programme — agentic AI + VR for Nigerian public Junior Secondary Schools, in partnership with UBEC. The infrastructure exists. The evidence base exists. The government partnership exists. EdgeLearn is the next chapter — and it needs co-builders.
Edge-First architecture
Offline AI for low-connectivity Nigerian classrooms.
RAG knowledge base
NERDC JSS curriculum-aligned across core subjects.
Personalised tutoring
Agentic AI adapted to individual student progress.
National scale pathway
Adoption via UBEC infrastructure.
Regional replication
Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia.
Government endorsement
UBEC partnership in place via August 2024 MoU.
A decade
in numbers.
Every figure verified against programme records. Where a figure represents proposal scope rather than delivered reach, we say so.
Female participation has grown across the decade.
This is not accidental.
"The numbers are moving. We are not done." The XR Women's House is ERDI's next deliberate act toward a gender-balanced African XR ecosystem. It is seeking co-builders.
Build the Women's House with us →Independently documented.
Research that holds up.
Peer-reviewed publication, policy contribution to UNICEF and the WEF, the first empirical map of Africa's XR ecosystem, and continental academic infrastructure.
Ohu, E., Schrier, K., Emami, C., Alugo, M., Babatunde, E., Bodunde, I., … Okonkwo, J. (2025). Research in Human Development, 1–23.
Afande, B., Bailenson, J., Bianchi, M., Collard, A. M., De la Pena, N., Fitzmaurice, E., Jade, M., Kuenzler, A., Mantegna, M., Bofias, M. O., Wolfe, S. G., Aldhaheri, S., Belhoul, K., Bolwell, A., Dadlani, K., Farahany, N., Hui, P., Kopp, I., Lee, S., Okonkwo, J., & Vogl, S. L. (2 September 2024). World Economic Forum Global Future Council White Papers.
The first empirical mapping of Africa's XR ecosystem. Editorially co-led by Imisi 3D with Dale Deacon and Gareth Steele. Supported by Meta, Africa No Filter, Electric South, and Imisi 3D.
Read the Africa XR Report →ERDI participated in the Laval Virtual Visionaries Think Tank 2021 — a global gathering imagining the future of immersive technologies.
Okonkwo, J; Onyeahialam, G; Isu, M (2020). Poster Presentation. 2020 Immersive Learning Research Network Conference.
- UNICEF Innocenti Policy Guidance on AI for Children — global pilot.
- African Delegation · Laval Virtual — Le Blog de Laval Virtual · 2021. The first African delegation at a global XR event.
- AutismVR · UNICEF case study — UNICEF Innocenti Global Insight · 2021. AutismVR — case study on AI for Children.
- VR for Schools coverage — Published article.
- UNICEF Innovation Fund — education technology research, 2018 onwards.
- Templeton World Charity Foundation / Lagos Business School — 2-year study (2020–2022) on VR for character development in teenagers.
- Lagos Business School VHCI Lab — converging technologies research partnership, in development.
- academics.arvrafrica.com — continental African XR research aggregation platform, launched 2025.
Build with us.
The ecosystem exists. The evidence exists. The community exists. What comes next needs co-builders.
ERDI has spent a decade building infrastructure for the African XR ecosystem — a free lab that has never closed its doors, a community that has gathered for eight years, programmes designed to be measured and sustained. We are not at the beginning. We are at the inflection point.
We are looking for organisations, institutions, and individuals who want to build the future of immersive technology in Africa — not as sponsors, but as collaborators. Those who fund ecosystems, not just projects. Those who invest in people, not just outputs. Those who understand that the most important infrastructure is often the least visible.
Seven open invitations — 2026.
Programme co-investment
Building specific programmes together, with shared design and accountability.
Research partnership
Joint inquiry, co-publication, institutional affiliation.
Government partnership
Policy co-design, national deployment, curriculum integration.
Corporate collaboration
Hackathon co-hosting, Lab infrastructure, technology provision.
Consultancy
Engagements that cross-subsidise the nonprofit mission.
For those who build with trust.
Some of the most important partnerships are the ones that simply say: we believe in what you are building. Keep going.
ERDI has spent a decade building beyond discrete projects. The free lab that is open on weekdays; the community that gathers every month; the research that is ongoing — these require the time that most funding timelines do not allow.
We particularly look forward to flexible, multi-year collaborations. Partnerships that allow us to deepen our impact — for example, doing empirical research on the use of XR in resource-constrained learning environments, to determine the impact on learning outcomes. We would build the things that cannot otherwise be funded.
Tell us what you want to build.
All enquiries route to hello@xrforall.org. A team member will respond within five working days.
Get in touch.
All enquiries — collaboration, press, research, community, programme — route through hello@xrforall.org. The team responds within five working days.
The Lab
3rd Floor, 8 Montgomery Road,
Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria.
Open on weekdays. No appointment required.