Although it is not new, the concept of the metaverse is still alien to the whole world and only a handful of people seem to clearly understand exactly how it will eventually turn out. 

For countries in Africa where internet costs and penetration are still far from ideal, the metaverse is merely a strange concept and its promises don’t solve most of the continent’s immediate problems.

MTN Group is however changing the narrative. The telecom company recently announced that it will host an Africa-first virtual concert on 30 November 2022 in Ubuntuland, Africa’s metaverse.

According to Bernice Samuels, MTN’s group Marketing Executive, the metaverse will allow the company to support African innovation.

He said, “The metaverse holds a wide array of opportunities to further enhance and showcase African innovation and are excited to be pioneers of this journey on the continent.” 

He further highlighted, “For our launch event, we will be running a competition with our customers, giving them a chance to win exclusive tickets to the concert. We believe that by tapping into a key passion on the continent, namely music, we can actively draw our customers into the environment to not only experience it first-hand but also to help us to improve altMTN.”

He also noted, “The MTN Group’s presence in the African metaverse will be known as altMTN. altMTN allows us to further support our ambition to lead digital platforms and support African innovation, and will over time feature live events, shopping, gaming, and learning.” 

“To welcome everyone to altMTN we will leverage our partnership with The Mic: Africa, to host Africa’s first virtual music concert in the metaverse to drive awareness and adoption of this new space,” he added.  

According to Analysis Group, the Metaverse could potentially contribute $40 billion to Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP by 2031. Additionally, the metaverse will provide African brands with significant opportunities to tell unique stories in engaging ways.

MTN Group is not the only brand maximizing opportunities, Nigerian music star BNXN (formerly called Buju) also recently held a metaverse listening party in August, reaching out to thousands of his fans globally.

It should be noted that earlier this year, MTN Group became the first African company to purchase land in Ubuntuland with a vision to create dedicated environments for creating unique immersive experiences for its customers.