UNDP Launches $1bn Startup Financing Facility for Africa

Oluchi Chibuzor

The timbuktoo initiative, sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Africa has been launched in Nigeria with the aim of mobilizing and investing $1 billion in public and private funding over the next decade to help spur the startup revolution across Africa.
In view of this, 8 private-sector-driven pan-African timbuktoo hubs, each focusing on a different priority area and housing a Venture Builder and a Venture Fund will be developed across Africa.

Speaking at the launch event, UNDP Africa Chief Innovation Officer, Eleni Gabre-Madhin, said; “Timbuktoo is a big, innovative, and unique initiative to overcome the present vacuum in early-stage risk capital, to better integrate African innovation stakeholders from universities to corporates to investors, and to enable startups to embrace the African market opportunity. We’re opening a timbuktoo hub in Lagos and we hope to utilize Africa’s youth brilliance to make it a worldwide knowledge and innovation powerhouse.”

According to her, the exciting goal of timbuktoo is to foster and create One Africa Market and beyond startups that receive best-in-class assistance, collaborations, and local and international investment.

She noted that each pan-African center will draw top startup talent from all over the continent as the launch of timbuktoo in Nigeria is a significant milestone underpinned by a commitment to galvanize Africa’s tech-enabled startups.

In her presentation to participants, she revealed that the goal is for more than 1,000 startups to grow to a significant size and have a positive effect on more than 100 million people’s lives and the environment, generating a ten-fold return of over ten billion dollars in wealth and value creation for Africa’s economies.
In his remarks, the UNDP Nigeria Representative, Mohamed Yahya, said because they prioritize innovation UNDP will continue to invest.

“So, it wasn’t hard to convince the Timbuktoo team to setup a hub here in Lagos, Nigeria. This initiative is based on the belief that to achieve the SDGs, we must work hand in hand with the private sector and embrace a bold and innovative reality in which the future will be driven by technology and innovation.