MTN Group, the parent company of listed MTN Nigeria, has announced that is has bought a digital land in a South African originated Metaverse called Africarare.
According to the press release, MTN now owns 144 plots of virtual land with an overall area of 12x12m. The press release however did not mention how much MTN paid for the plots.
Africarare launched in October 2021, becoming the first African VR metaverse to launch. The platform uses a token, UBU token, as its native token.
What you should know
- According to the press release, the investment demonstrates, “MTN’s commitment to supporting African innovation as it is the first company on the continent to support an initiative of this kind. Through its presence in the metaverse, MTN intends to increase its customer attractiveness through a series of experiences merged with consumer passion points, like gaming and music.”
- Africarare, as previously mentioned, is Africa’s first VR metaverse that launched in October 2021. Its metaverse, Ubuntuland is being developed alongside Mann Made Media, is expected to do public land sales later this year.
- According to Africarare, Ubuntuland intends to showcase some of the best of African art, fashion, entertainment, sport, technlology and creativity and will provide a platform for artists from across the continent to showcase their work.
- Africarare is the first also South African and African metaverse, whose digital land gets its baseline synopsis from the African continent. Last year, the platform sold out its debut Non-fungible token (NFT) art collection last year for about $50,000.
- Mic Mann, co-founder of Africarare, stated, “We’ve seen an immense amount of growth in the NFT space marketplace and Metaverses across the US, Europe, Asia, there hasn’t been much coming out of Africa. We feel there’s a great opportunity for Africa to take part in this new world.”
- Bernice Samuels, MTN’s Group Executive for Marketing stated, “This is an exciting moment for us as we lead businesses on the continent to enter the metaverse marketplace. This is exactly what our Ambition 2025 strategy is premised on – leveraging trends that amplify consumer’s digital experiences and engagement. We have always been at the forefront of technological and digital changes and we remain alive to the exciting opportunities the metaverse presents for us and our customers.”
In the world, many more companies are now adding some form of cryptocurrency investments into their balance sheets. It comes as no surprise that big African organizations like MTN are taking steps to have some form of cryptocurrency investments on their portfolio of assets. The metaverse in particular has attracted a lot of legacy and big companies around the world like JPMorgan, PWC, Visa, Samsung, Adidas and so on, as they have announced the purchase of digital lands.
To add, Alongside MTN, South African advertising agency M&C Saatchi Abel also purchased its own plot of land in the newly created Ubuntuland.