On 2 October 2024, amidst the Francophonie summit, the Alliance Francophone pour la Propriété Intellectuelle was launched in France, and attended by many institutions, including the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI). The intended purpose of the Alliance Francophone pour la Propriété Intellectuelle is to enhance and promote the French language as a working language in innovation ecosystems. It plans to do so by bringing together important stakeholders, including professionals in the intellectual property (IP) space, universities and other IP-focused institutions, as well as the IP offices of the International Organisation of La Francophonie.
As one of its first acts, the Alliance Francophone pour la Propriété Intellectuelle entered into a partnership agreement with the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), a global network of French-speaking higher-education and research institutions. The agreement is intended to pool the respective networks of both institutions to promote/raise awareness of IP and to train students and future entrepreneurs across the French-speaking world about IP.
At the inauguration, the Director General, Denis L. Bohoussou of OAPI welcomed the formation of the Alliance Francophone pour la Propriété Intellectuelle, highlighting the need to increase the understanding of IP by the French-speaking public as well as invigorating an interest in the scientific, technical and legal content surrounding IP, throughout Africa. This sentiment was echoed in other meetings attended by the Director General at the summit in which he emphasized OAPI's innovative strategies to stimulate the economic development of its member states through promoting African inventiveness, using Cameroon as a case study.
OAPI Performance Award celebrates the achievements of a Cameroonian Entrepreneur
Adeline Tsemo Machenga started a business, Madina Foods Sarl, producing and selling madeleines, cookies and shortbread using 100% natural sweet potato flour under a premium brand “Bobo”. In December 2023, Madina was producing 1,000 packages per month which increased to 5,000 packages per month by July 2024.
This production increase earned Adeline high praise by a jury of the 7th edition of the Bénédicte Janine Kakou Diagou (BJKD) Foundation's young entrepreneurs competition, which awarded her the OAPI Performance Award and includes a cash prize of CFA3 million (roughly €4,600). In 2023, Adeline was initially awarded the Pierre Castel Prize in Cameroon, providing her with €15,000 (roughly CFA10 million), allowing her to build out the production capacity of her business and the more recent OAPI prize proves that investment was well-placed. Adeline intends using the OAPI prize to “improve our production process to establish a workshop that meets international standards.”
Since 2018, the BJKD has awarded CFA274 million (roughly €420,000) to 34 African entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 40 for innovative projects with high potential for growth and helping them financially and technically to enhance their production capabilities.
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