The African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) held its 2026 back-to-work seminar from January 26 to 29 at its headquarters, bringing together staff from operational departments for four days around the theme: "The Management of Industrial Property Titles at OAPI". This event placed user satisfaction at the heart of the Organization's reflections and commitments.
The user is at the heart of our concerns
This seminar was in line with OAPI's vision of making user satisfaction – applicants, rights holders, and industrial property advisors – the ultimate goal of all its actions. These four days of discussions helped to reinforce this major strategic direction.
"A satisfied user is one who benefits from fast, reliable, and professional service ," the General Management reminded everyone at the opening ceremony. "To achieve this, we must constantly review our professional practices, identify bottlenecks, and harmonize our procedures."
A review of professional practices
The seminar provided a valuable forum for collective reflection on professional practices in the management of industrial property rights. Participants were able to:
- Critically analyze current procedures and identify concrete areas for improvement;
- Sharing best practices between departments;
- Harmonize working methods to ensure institutional consistency at the operational level;
- Strengthen the understanding of tools and information systems, in particular the uploading of applications for titles.
The legal aspects of permit application and renewal procedures were also central to the discussions. Case studies based on real-life situations helped to ground these reflections in concrete examples and to immediately translate learning into tangible actions for the benefit of users.
Enhanced cross-sectoral coordination
One of the major benefits of the seminar was to bring staff together for discussions that allowed them to reflect on ways to streamline production processes, identify and eliminate redundancies, and significantly improve the flow of information between departments.
A strategic action with multiple impacts
Beyond its technical objectives, this seminar fully achieved the strategic ambitions of the General Directorate in terms of strengthening human capital and institutional cohesion.
🎯 Enhanced sense of belonging:
The testimonies of the participants were unanimous: "this seminar consolidated the collective identity and the feeling of belonging to the same professional family in service of a mission...User satisfaction".
🎯 Understanding the Organization's Objectives:
Many participants gained a renewed understanding of their individual contribution to the collective mission of the Organization, thus demonstrating a kind of appropriation of the Organization's goals.
The key takeaway – as the seminar clearly demonstrated – is that the quality of services provided to users cannot be decreed, but is built daily through continuous learning, the sharing of experiences, and everyone's commitment to a process of continuous improvement. The participants seem to have grasped this point.
Testimonials from participants
“This seminar was exactly what we needed. The discussions with colleagues from other departments opened my eyes to aspects I hadn't perceived from my own position. Now, I better understand the impact of each of our work on the ultimate user satisfaction.” – Finance and Asset Management Officer
"The practical exercises allowed us to solve concrete problems we had been encountering for a long time." – One-Stop Shop Agent
