Carving a Space in Virtual Reality: an Interview With Jimmy Jean Baptiste Kernisant

Spanning over a decade, Jimmy Jean Baptiste Kernisant’s career began in Spain, where he excelled as a Junior Architect.As an architect, he infused his projects with principles of bioclimatic architecture and green living. Embracing the evolving landscape of technology, in 2021, Jimmy established JBBK Studios, allowing him to step into the dynamic realms of DAOs and the Metaverse.

His certifications as a DAO Expert and a Metaverse Developer mark asignificant transition, underscoring his commitment to harnessing these technologies for community upliftment. His flagship project, Harlem Metaverse, is a testament to this commitment, offering an immersive platform for Black-owned businesses.

The Metaverse hasn’t taken off like a rocket just yet, but the potential for brands and consumers alike is real. Trained as an architect, Jimmy Jean Baptiste Kernisant has taken on the challenge of carving out a space in the virtual reality world with the mission to empower Black businesses. Here, Kernisant lays out his vision for the possibilities of the Metaverse and how businesses can harness its power.

Describe the Metaverse, for those who may not be familiar with the technology.

The Metaverse is the new iteration of the internet where not only immersive technologies are involved (adding the third dimension to our digital interactions), but permissionless peer-to-peer transactions (messages, currencies, and/or digital assets) are possible and registered in a public ledger which is available for everyone to check, thus democratizing the data that many centralized companies have been monetizing for their sole benefit in the last decade.

At this point, every company is a tech company– are there elements of Web3 technology that businesses can add to their strategy to make themselves more competitive?

Nowadays, the most valuable asset that a business has is its CRM (Customer Relationship Management). We are all after the likes and follows on social media, but that does not mean customer retention; it only appeals to our ego and nothing else.

What makes a business successful is conversions, and that cannot only be achieved by attracting new customers over and over. In this highly competitive era, building customer loyalty by having customers who are willing to buy from you again and again is crucial. And for that - capturing and extracting value from your community- can easily achieved with NFTs.

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A customized Web3 strategy based on an NFT collection is a very easy way to introduce yourself into the space with minimum risk. But of course, you have to understand first how Web3 marketing functions, because the rules in Web2 and Web3 are very different.

It would be wise to first contact a professional to elaborate a strategy for a launch, event, or workshop related to your business’s mission and then, based on the results and feedback, come in with a whole comprehensive strategy for your business and ensure customers' loyalty and community building. If you also integrate immersive technology in your strategy you could increase by 40% your conversions rate, by simply increasing the time your prospective clients spend examining your product.

What is the biggest misconception about the Metaverse?

“The Metaverse is simply a three-dimensional space accessible through special goggles”. For an immersive space to be considered a Metaverse transactions must be able to happen. It could be only messages (communications), but those exchanged assets had to be recorded in a public ledger and integrated into a blockchain. When you go to a real estate agent and he or she shows you your about-to-be-new home in a 3D setting, this is not a Metaverse. I

If you could enter an immersive platform and, after visiting a virtual space, you could buy it directly and the NFT attributing its ownership goes directly to your wallet, we could start saying that this platform is a little bit closer to what we will have in the future: frictionless and interoperable digital/physical assets exchangeable in different platforms, with which it will be possible to interact with immersive technologies VR, AR, and XR.

Regarding Web3 or the Metaverse, what are some of the adoption challenges? 

“Learning curve of a continuously evolving technology”. If you want to have full control of your business operation, you need to roll up your sleeves and get ready to bootstrap. Being a pioneer in the space and future-proof your enterprise, today comes with a price, but I consider that is a step that today is optional, but tomorrow will be the critical different skill that will distinguish those who will master the enhancement tool and will be able to customize and create new features, to those that will be at the mercy of the fit-to-market products, with much fewer customization options, which, in a more competitive decentralized world could mean closing your doors and abandoning the race.

Shopping has become an exercise in chasing sales and is not especially exciting for consumers. Do you see the Metaverse and Web3 technology as having the potential to re-energize the retail space?

Immersive technologies are making their way into a growing number of online shops due to their immediate results on conversion rates. However, the better Customer Experience (CX) is the most solicited feature by both clients and business owners due to the reduced product returns. With 3D product images, augmented reality, and virtual try-ons customers have a better idea of what they are getting, and the returns rate drops drastically. Online shopping has indeed opened the door of small businesses to the world, but that door is lost and locked in the vast ocean of advertisement gatekeepers.

Where do you see the Metaverse ten years from now? The industries that are doing a good job adopting it, at least. And where do you see minorities and other disadvantaged groups' involvement in this emerging technology?"

We have seen the hype and the cast down of the concept of the Metaverse by the masses influenced solely by one actor: Facebook. In the last quarter of 2021, after Facebook changed its name to META the Metaverse real estate boomed, but also, when its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, announced “the death of the Metaverse” in the first quarter of 2023, the masses followed META’s directions.

The reality is very different. The race of the Metaverse is not over, on the contrary, with the AI revolution the pace is faster than ever, but developers have pivoted from the consumers to big corporations since the investment to develop this technology is quite considerable… (from $500.000 to $2M for considering creating a Metaverse platform). But we all know that the inevitable is coming. All the big research papers tell the same thing:

-    The opportunity ahead: Forecasts predict a staggering growth from USD 678.8 billion to as much as USD 5.8 trillion by 2030.

-    A Disruptive tech: The Metaverse will have a very substantial impact on existing products and markets.

-    Several iterations of the technology: It will take seven-plus years to cross over from early-adopter status to early majority adoption.

But even at its early stage, why do I propose the Metaverse as the solution? The Metaverse, with its decentralized and democratic characteristics, provides an ideal platform to address several challenges and opportunities identified in the context of Black businesses and the broader community:

1. Transitioning Away from Web 2.0 Gatekeepers: Web3 and the Metaverse offer an opportunity to break away from platforms that centralize power and control. Immersive tech and Web3 will enable Black creators and businesses to have direct control over their work and how it is monetized, with no cuts for middlemen.
2. Providing Accessibility and Financial Inclusion: Blockchain's permissionless nature allows anyone to access high-growth projects regardless of their income level or traditional financial status, mitigating the effects of discriminatory redlining and lending practices.
3. Embracing Digital Evolution: With the rise of digital technologies, traditional business models are evolving. The integration of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology offers a novel approach to mitigating structural racism and the wealth gap, which have historically disadvantaged Black individuals and communities worldwide.
4. Creating Black-owned DAOs: no-code smart contracts represent an opportunity to establish a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that can invest in and rapidly grow Black businesses. These DAOs could be a digital reincarnation of Black Wall Street, with the potential to fuel a significant upswing in Black economic power.

The Metaverse is an ideal solution to the challenges identified as it allows for a fundamental reorganization and democratization of the economy, offering opportunities for upward mobility that are less possible in the physical economy. It also provides a blueprint for the future success of Black communities in the Metaverse, promising wealth creation, equal opportunity, and financial self-sovereignty. Let us be involved in shaping our future!