On Monday, September 29, 2025, OAPI and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA Cameroon) launched the first phase of the AFPI Project – Women's Economic Empowerment through Innovation and Access to Intellectual Property in Douala, Cameroon. This innovative program aims to build bridges between the technical skills of women scientists and the local know-how of women agribusiness entrepreneurs, in a dynamic of co-creation of innovative solutions while contributing to economic and social development.
Workshops to strengthen skills and promote female talents
The inaugural phase of the project began with a series of training workshops targeting two key groups: young girls and women engineers, as well as women entrepreneurs in the agribusiness sector. Each two-day workshop provided skills development, coaching, and networking opportunities with the aim of equipping participants with legal and business tools to transform their expertise into sustainable, competitive assets in the marketplace.
Promote local know-how and structure activities around a commercial identity
The first workshop, launched on September 29, was dedicated to women in technical and technological sectors with the aim of equipping them with tools on the creativity process, the exploitation of patents, the transfer of technologies and raising their awareness of the importance of protecting industrial property (brands, patents, industrial designs, trade names and geographical indications) in order to promote local products, secure their innovations and strengthen their position on the markets.
The women in agribusiness workshop, which opened on October 1 , focused on supporting participants in the strategic use of intellectual property to protect their products, promote their expertise, and structure their activities around a strong business identity. It also aims to identify the challenges they face, identify their needs and expectations, in order to propose concrete solutions to facilitate their access to markets and value chains.
A fruitful meeting which ended on October 3rd with a joint day designed to promote synergy of actions between the target groups.
A project with national scope
Ultimately, the AFPI project plans to train nearly 260 women in four regions of Cameroon: Douala, Ngaoundéré, Yaoundé, and Dschang. This initiative is part of an inclusive vision of development, in which intellectual property becomes a tool for empowerment and social transformation.
📍 Next stop: Ngaoundéré, from October 27 to 31, 2025
