The African Organization for Intellectual Property (OAPI) and the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) have launched an ambitious initiative to finance a thousand innovative projects across several African countries by 2030. The partnership includes a large capital investment by OAPI in the AGF, as well as a guarantee window covering up to 75% of loan risks for innovative SMEs with patents. Support services, such as mentoring and business modelling, will also be provided.
Although OAPI currently boasts seventeen members from among the predominantly French-speaking African nations, the number of annually granted patents is known to be low (i.e. hundreds rather than thousands of granted patents). An initiative to nurture and reward businesses which generate useful intellectual property portfolios would be beneficial both for the businesses themselves, and for the economies of these countries.
Project selection is slated to begin in the third quarter of this year.
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