While her oracle tree continues to fall, with the gold turning into dust due to Covid-19, conflict, among others, Africa’s roots are so strong.

The remarks are part of a moving speech given by Ahunna Eziakonwa, Regional Director of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) during an event to launch the organization’s new Pan-African hub in Rwanda dubbed, Timbuktoo.

Under the partnership, Rwanda will host Timbuktoo’s headquarters, whose ambition is to scale to over 1000 Startups on the African continent.

Eziakonwa, who also doubles as the UN Assistant Secretary General, told participants at the event that what Africa is seeing in today’s revolution, emergence of sheer brilliance, is not new on the continent.

"But it is being squashed, denied a chance to grow to blossom, regenerate, and it refuses just like the stubborn tree whose roots keep coming up even in the drought,” she said.

"You see shoots popping out and people keep wondering. A regeneration is the way we are describing the development today.”

For UNDP, as a developing organization, to succeed, Eziakonwa called for partnerships that tap into and harness Africa’s local knowledge.

"I am convinced that our development work needs to have partnerships with the people who are creating solutions,” she asserted. 

Coming to Rwanda

For the most part, people have gotten used to thinking of Africa as a poor continent, a narrative that previously saw UNDP investing on other continents.

However, she recalled, that journey which began at the margins of the 2019 UN General Assembly, has brought us to a place back here in a country that has actually lived the concept of regeneration.

"Who would have thought that after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, we would be witnessing what we are seeing today?,” she posed the question to a group of angel investors, venture capitalists, innovators as well as youth from academia.

"From ashes to perhaps one of the countries that stands tall to demonstrate what it is all about,” she added.

Eziakonwa said she is of the belief that young people in Africa are talented, just like the rest.

"As UNDP, we have a realization that the development landscape has become so complex, so challenging, so uncertain that no one entity can solve all the solutions. We need to put together our collective minds, resources and assets to solve Africa’s and the world’s problems,” she added.

With Timbuktoo, she called on individuals who believe that it is time to trust young Africans with enough (funds) to make a change, ‘not just with peanuts’.

Paula Ingabire, Minister of ICT and Innovation commended UNDP’s move to establish the hub’s headquarters in Rwanda, citing long and fruitful relations between both parties.

She also said that the move comes at a time Rwanda has put innovation, technology, youth entrepreneurship at the core of her socio-economic development process.

"In UNDP, Rwanda found a great partner who really is walking the talk when it comes to what types of partnerships we should forge to create meaningful innovations and support,” Minister Ingabire said.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg. This is going to be a great journey and you can continue to count on our support as the Government,” she added.

Entrepreneurs speak out

Clarisse Iribagiza, one of Rwanda’s established tech entrepreneurs said she was ‘excited’ about Timbuktoo for mainly three things.

"One of them is access to risk capital from an investor that is willing to be patient which is critical along the entrepreneurial journey.”

Second, Iribagiza said, is the ability to construct innovation centers especially given that the initiative targets to construct eight innovation hubs in Africa’s key ecosystems.

Finally, she highlighted, "The ecosystem collaboration, and that's really critical. A Lot of innovation is happening in silos. When you walk into a University classroom you will be amazed by the ideas that are in there but a venture capitalist might never find out about those.”