This is a new step in the implementation of economic equality and inclusion policies in Africa. The African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) and the United Nations Population Fund Cameroon office (UNFPA Cameroon) officially launched the Women's Economic Empowerment Project through Innovation and Access to Intellectual Property on August 5, 2025, at OAPI headquarters in Yaoundé. This ambitious pilot project, born from a Memorandum of Understanding signed on February 14, 2025, will be implemented in Cameroon and Burkina Faso.
This strategic project aims to promote local know-how carried by women, particularly in the agribusiness sector, by enabling them to protect their innovations, access financing, and integrate sustainably into the formal economy through the use of intellectual property.
Making innovation a lever for female emancipation
For OAPI Director General Denis Bohoussou, " this project is aimed at rural women, engineering students, and those involved in the agri-food sector, in order to strengthen their capacities in terms of innovation, legal protection, and the economic development of their know-how. In fact, it is not enough to innovate; we must also protect this innovation. And it is not enough to be an actor in the field; we must be able to become an agent of change. And that is what we are doing through this project ."
In the same vein, the UNFPA Resident Representative in Cameroon, Justin Koffi, emphasized the concrete opportunity this project represents for connecting women's talents and projects with appropriate financing: " Very often, what has hampered entrepreneurship in Africa is the fact that the projects are here in Africa, and the financing elsewhere. From now on, the two can be connected locally ," explains Mr. Koffi.
Also, Cameroon's Minister for the Advancement of Women and the Family, Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa, who presided over the ceremony, welcomed " a significant step towards the emancipation of young girls ," emphasizing that financial independence remains an essential key to their future: " Too often, the future of our young girls is compromised by dependence on their spouses. Thanks to this initiative, they will be able to become independent, undertake and build their own security ."
An integrated approach to serving women's potential
Concretely, the project will last 18 months, with an overall budget estimated at 1.5 billion CFA francs. It will target female engineering students, rural women, agribusiness entrepreneurs, and those involved in the informal economy, particularly retailers.
This approach is designed to be integrated and inclusive. It aims to strengthen management skills, support patent filing, access legal protection tools, and the implementation of high value-added projects.
Ultimately, the project aims to correct current imbalances: in Cameroon, 62% of the agricultural workforce is female, but women hold only 15% of the patents registered with OAPI. This paradox is one that this program aims to reverse sustainably, and the results obtained will serve as a guide for other countries in the OAPI region.
