Timbuktoo to fund Young African Environmental Activists

 

Young environmental activists will soon start to be funded by the Timbuktoo African Innovation Fund whose headquarters will be based in Kigali.

The fund was launched by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in a special session of the World Economic Forum at its 24th annual assembly in Davos, Switzerland.

The fund aims at mobilizing and investing $1 billion in catalytic and commercial capital to transform 100 million livelihoods and create 10 million dignified new jobs.

But the most favored ideas among other African startups to be financed are the ones that align with the ecosystem.

This will be Africa’s largest initiative in the world to finance the continent’s innovation startup ecosystem.

This will be a great milestone for countries like Rwanda, which are committed to alleviating climate change.

“Timbuktoo’s vision aligns with Rwanda’s innovation ecosystem. Rwanda is open for anyone to come and test their solutions," President Paul Kagame said during the launch of the fund.

By ending the environmental issues that Africa is grappling with, it is planned that the fund will be capitalized through partnerships with African governments, investors, corporations, and universities.

At first, over 1,000 startups were targeted in Africa entirely to trigger Africa’s startup revolution.

President Paul Kagame announced Rwanda’s contribution of about US$3 million to invest in the innovation fund.

“With Timbuktoo’s billion-dollar target, we can create more opportunities for Africa’s youth to put their talent and creativity to good use,” he said.

Rwanda’s case towards climate and ecosystem preservation has shown a great milestone attached to Rwanda’s National Strategy Transformation Pillars, which prioritized environment protection.

Cooperation between Rwanda and Timbuktoo’s innovation fund came after a signed agreement on the carbon market between Rwanda, Singapore, and Kuwait.

Rwanda Forestry Authority (RFA) has so far managed to plant forest covering approximately 1,000 hectares through farmer’s cooperatives.

This also came to benefit players in the industry. The planters will receive financial incentives based on the amount of carbon emissions their forest will have reduced and sold on the carbon market annually.