In Nigeria, she is one of the pioneers of extended, augmented, and virtual reality. She sees those tech tools as interesting opportunities to offer innovative solutions to the population.
Judith Okonkwo (photo) is a Nigerian business psychologist and the founder of Imisi 3D, an extended reality creation lab based in Lagos, Nigeria.
Through the creation lab, launched in 2016, Judith nurtures an African community of augmented and virtual reality content creators. She also creates virtual and augmented reality solutions and provides “educational and engagement experiences with AR/VR.” She aims to “change the technology narrative so that [Africans] become creators and not just consumers of technology.”
In line with that mission, she recently partnered with Meta and Black Rhino VR to launch the Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa AR/VR metathon, on October 24. Through this event, one of the first of its kind in Africa, the young woman wants to find and support African innovative augmented, extended and virtual reality solution creators.
The business psychologist places high hopes in the metathon, slated for mid-August 2022- April 2023. Imisi 3D “is our biggest and most ambitious event yet, providing even greater access for XR. […] This year’s AR/VR Africa Metathon brings together our AR/VR Africa pre-hackathon training, hackathon, and Bootcamp in one program,” Judith Okonkwo explains.
Since August 2022, she is a visiting global scholar at Harvard University. From 2017 to date, she has led AR/VR Africa, an African community of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality creators and enthusiasts that she founded. From 2016 to date, she is also a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on VR/AR. She is also a co-founder of We Will Lead Africa, a global network that creates platforms to share experiences and inspire leadership in Africa.
Since 2013, Judith Okonkwo is the Director of the European Organisation Design Forum. She is also a visiting lecturer and researcher at the Centre for Business Psychology at the University of Westminster, since 2005. In 2008, she founded the leadership development center Oriki Leadership Coaching and co-founded the international facilitation and consulting firm Tomorrow by Design in 2014.
Her professional career began in 2000, as a press release and recruitment officer for the 31st Nigerian Artillery Brigade. In 2001, she was recruited to the Human Resources Department of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) before joining Insights Learning and Development in 2007 as a corporate psychologist. She later worked for British Airways (2011 to 2016) as an organizational intelligence consultant. While still working for British Airways, in 2014, she joined the global placement network Andela as Director of People and Professional Development.
Melchior Koba
