Karibu Chai
Our journey
We started out by a stroke of luck, serendipity and faith.
Our founders’ entrepreneurial journeys have been the cornerstone of our corporate culture and company DNA since inception and has guided our mission and vision to date.
Michael Ilako was a 3rd year student at the University of Nairobi pursuing a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery when halfway through his course, he had the epiphany to become a filmmaker. Driven by his passion, Michael embarked on a film making Journey.
Similarly, Brian Afande was a deejay turned Brand Manager
of an international shoe brand (Converse). While on his daily duties at the brand offices, he walked into his office on a fateful Saturday morning not knowing that there was going to be a terrorist attack in the same building. Rescued 6 hours later after the ordeal, the harrowing events that transpired that day reshaped his perspective and set his life on a course that ultimately gave birth to BlackRhino VR.
Brian and Michael’s personal experiences and spiritual beliefs were a great match and perfect ingredient for them to set up a venture together based on their unique yet complimentary backgrounds.
In 2014, Virtual Reality was considered foreign and obscure technology within the African continent. There was also a massive deficiency in specialized skill sets and huge barriers to the accessibility of hardware and software (Infrastructure). With this as a backdrop, Brian and Michael embarked on a research and development phase followed by a feasibility study on the possibilities of deploying VR in an African context. In 2015, BlackRhino VR was established by a fearless, self-taught and passionate duo with a brand promise of building a larger, self-sustainable eco-system and with a mission to empower the African youth to become the XR innovators and inventors of the future.