The virtual land will soon be available to purchase and develop.

MTN, a multinational mobile telecommunications company, is joining Africarare with an upcoming 12x12 village (144 plots of real estate) secured in Ubuntuland. 

M&C Saatchi Abel has announced that it has entered the metaverse as the first South African agency to do so.

There will only ever be 204 642 plots of land available, made up of different village sizes in various community hubs. The land is positioned and priced according to a tiered value system.

Landholders will be able to customise their 3D land spaces by:
  • hosting shops
  • producing resources
  • renting virtual services, and
  • developing games or other applications.
Designated spaces will serve the community for work, play and wellness purposes. Wellness purposes include:
  • state of the art meeting rooms
  • online therapy rooms (with optional anonymity)
  • concert stages
  • film festival spaces
  • meditation lounges, and
  • other dynamic interactive environments.
It was announced that there is still more to come, such as staking, DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) and blockchain play-to-earn gaming.

South African artist Norman Catherine has developed a unique collection of avatars for the metaverse, which will shortly be available to purchase. The Normunda tribe is based on the artist's signature lexicon, which has fetched record prices in galleries around the world. An avatar is a 3D graphical representation of a user or the user's character or persona in this space.

Africacare has announced a collaboration with South African superstar Boitumelo Thulo, popularly known as Boity. The television personality, rapper, actress and businesswoman revealed her first virtual reality music video. Boity entered the event with the same Sun Goddess custom creation, on which her outfit in Queen Boity avatar form was based. 

The Boity tribe of 10 000 avatars will soon be available for fans, with a Boity village currently being developed and plans for virtual concerts underway.

According to the event, the currency in Ubuntuland will be the $UBUNTU token, which is built on the Ethereum blockchain and will be available later in 2022. Everything in Africarare can be bought, sold or traded using $UBUNTU tokens, including:
  • buying
  • developing
  • selling or renting plots or villages in Ubuntuland, and
  • the in-world purchases of digital goods and services.
The valuation of the token will be calculated according to what users invest / build / play / trade inside the metaverse.

Two art galleries will feature in Africarare, dedicated to showcasing Africa's prolific creativity. The Mila gallery (Swahili for 'tradition'), is already open and it will host curated collections by some of Africa's foremost artists. The Inuka gallery (Swahili for 'rise') will feature works by emerging African artists from later in 2022.

Both galleries will stage various exhibitions on an ongoing basis with art pieces being sold as non-fungible tokens.

In the Africarare marketplace, creators and developers can trade in, in-world assets such as land, avatars, avatar additions and other goods and services that are and will be available in Ubuntuland. The marketplace focuses on four main areas, which include:
  • art
  • Ubuntuland
  • avatars and skins, and
  • digital services.
Users will also be able to trade on secondary platforms such as Opensea and others.

The Central Hub land area is reserved for Africarare custom made experiences, ranging from art to education. It includes:
  • galleries
  • live performances
  • stand-up comedy
  • video content channels
  • film festivals, and
  • safaris.
"Africarare will connect Africa to this booming arena of the global economy, stimulate growth and create multiple new jobs such as digital designers, creators and architects," says Mic Mann, co-founder and CEO of Africarare. "Additionally, it will enable South African artists to showcase their talent to the world and monetise their distinctive creations."

"With Africarare being built on collaborative partnerships, the possibilities for commercialisation are endless," says Shayne Mann, co-founder of Africarare.

"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 consumers’ digital experiences and engagement," adds Bernice Samuels, MTN group executive.

Samuels concludes, "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."

For more information, www.africarare.io. You can also follow Africarare on Twitter.