UNDP and Africell offer better digital connectivity to young innovators in Sierra Leone and The Gambia

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Africell are teaming up to provide better digital connectivity to UNDP’s timbuktoo University Innovation Pods (UniPods) in Sierra Leone and The Gambia.

The partnership will see Africell providing essential digital connectivity services to the UniPods, including 4G MiFi devices, high‑speed internet, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. These contributions will enable young innovators working in the Unipods to develop, test, and scale solutions to local and global development challenges.

Ziad Dalloul, Africell Group CEO and President of the Africell Impact Foundation, says: “This collaboration plays to everyone’s strengths by combining Africell’s connectivity expertise with UNDP’s innovation network. By equipping the UniPods in Sierra Leone and The Gambia with Africell’s signature internet services, we are investing in young Africans and helping to turn raw talent into successful enterprise”.

Beyond connectivity, UNDP and Africell will collaborate on innovation and accelerator programmes designed to increase participation in the UniPods and deepen their long-term social impact. For example: these programmes will leverage robotics, entrepreneurship and digital skills courses that the Africell Impact Foundation is already delivering through its own network of learning centres in West Africa.

The agreement underscores UNDP’s commitment to expanding Africa’s home-grown innovation ecosystem under the timbuktoo initiative.

“Digital inclusion is key to Africa’s innovation future. This partnership expands digital access and gives young innovators the connectivity they need to turn ideas into impactful solutions. When we invest in young people’s talents and remove barriers to opportunity, we accelerate Africa’s path to competitiveness, and inclusive growth”, explains Ahunna Eziakonwa, Assistant UN Secretary General and Director of UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa.

UNDP’s UniPods are high‑tech maker and innovation spaces in public universities that equip young people with the tools and skills to turn ideas into market‑ready solutions. UniPods fall within UNDP’s broader timbuktoo initiative, which is a series of programmes designed to boost investment in African founders and startups – including, in addition to UniPods, the timbuktoo Policy Labs and several thematic industry ‘hubs’ in major African cities.