About Us
Like all great stories, Ariella Africa is a story about when a boy met a girl. The rest is history...
2012
A Star is born or rather named after our daughter
Ottily-Anne Varnicker and Marlon Murahwa form a company and name it after their new daughter Ariella Murahwa. The idea was to create turn Ottily's passion for change in education and Marlon's tech knowledge into a consultancy that would later birth a product Virtuaclass.
2013 - 2016
Back to School and 1st Clients
Turning passion into a business was a steep learning curve, and it was only after Qrent, Christ Embassy Church, and Soul City Institute gave Ariella Murahwa a chance that the company began to look like a force to be reckoned with.
The Building Co and Events Apps
Learning how to build apps for the sake of Virtuaclass, Brave Group and the Building Co brought an expo to Ariella Murahwa that would change the direction of the company. With the opportunity to pivot Marlon and Ottily took a chance that paid off.
2017 - 2019
VR AR and Tafadzwa Hove
Tafadzwa, Marlon's friend took what he had learned in film production and animation to enter the technology space with VR and AR. The natural partner was his lifelong brother and with a few hiccups Ariella was augmenting reality.
As Ariella started to run COVID-19 knocked the wind out of her.
Ariella Murahwa had grown into a full service studio building apps for high end events. With events now completely virtual the demand for app experiences virtually disappeared.
2021
AI Rebirth and The Big Move
ChatGPT chainged the world of and technology forever. Marlon saw the chance to pivot again, to go back to school again and again it paid off.
Ariella Murahwa moves to Africa
Ariella Murahwa changed its company name to Ariella Africa, rebranded and added AI to its service base. Now based in Riverclub, Johannesburg.
2022 - Today
A for Animation, A for Ariella, A for Africa
An old friend Tendayi Nyeke from Triggerfish and Disney came knocking and Tafadzwa answered, resulting in the spectacular Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire anthology.
AI for Ariella Africa
The rapid pace of AI opened doors for early adopters like Ariella Africa to build AI into everything we do; cutting costs in film special effects and animation, building smart AR and intelligent apps. The road ahead looks brighter than its ever been.