During a special session of the World Economic Forum, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched the bold and ambitious initiative “Timbuktoo” in collaboration with African countries.

Timbuktoo is positioned as the world's largest financing facility bringing together catalytic and commercial capital to support the startup ecosystem in Africa. According to Administrator Achim Steiner, “timbuktoo is a new development model.” The SE Nana Akufo-Addo, for many African countries, the main challenge now is to ensure that the right structures are in place to enable young Africans to create innovative and compelling businesses that can contribute significantly to job creation and sustainable economic growth. Currently, Africa's share in the global value of startups is only 0.2 percent, compared to 2 percent of the value of global trade.