DAVOS. SWITZERLAND - The UN Development Program, in partnership with African governments, unveiled a $1 billion funding platform to help develop Africa’s startup sector.

The initiative, which was announced on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum gathering, is called ‘Timbuktoo Africa Innovation Fund’ and will take off with $3 million from Rwanda. Paula Ingabire, Rwanda’s digital minister, told Semafor Africa that all participating countries would contribute around $10 million over time.

With a 10-year span to invest in 1,000 startups, Timbuktoo will be domiciled within the Kigali International Finance Centre. The project has designated eight cities as focus hubs for innovation in key sectors: Accra (agritech), Lagos (fintech), Dakar (tourism and education), Casablanca (smart cities), Cairo (e-commerce and logistics), Kigali (healthtech), Nairobi (clean energy), and Cape Town (creative economy).

Ingabire said early planning for the project had been in place for some time and institutional backers like the World Bank and others would help with raising the funding. But the $1 billion will be composed of $350 million of catalytic capital and $650 million of commercial capital, according to a description on the project’s website. Providers of catalytic capital are regarded as being more patient and risk-tolerant with a view to achieving social goals than commercial capital sources.

Timbuktoo’s designers say it will be the medium that connects African governments, corporations, and universities towards supporting the African startup ecosystem. It expects to facilitate startup-friendly legislation and company building, while de-risking investment into startups, said the UNDP’s administrator Achim Steiner who described Timbuktoo as “a new model of development.”