IP Capacity Building Meeting Targets Women Entrepreneurs in Tanzania
October 26, 2017
A meeting titled Harnessing Intellectual Property for the Benefit of Women’s Entrepreneurship held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on August 28 and 29, 2017 focused on raising awareness on the benefits of the use of intellectual property (IP) tools such as trademarks, geographical indications, and patents for women entrepreneurs.
Participants, all of whom were women business owners, learnt how IP could be used to generate, maintain and maximize the value of their goods and services and thereby acts as an engine for economic development and empowerment.
The two-day meeting was attended by 32 women participants – all of whom are owners of a small business in areas such as honey production, fruit processing, cosmetics, and jewelry design.
Practical IP issues
Each of the 32 participants had the opportunity to make presentations on their business and to showcase and discuss their products, including examples of how different types of IP rights could be applied to each product.
Discussions were also held on the practical aspects of the use of IP, with guidance provided to the women entrepreneurs as to how WIPO and national institutions can help them with IP registration, management and enforcement.
The participants expressed their aspiration to obtain at least 32 IP registrations (one each) within the next year.
Sharing of needs and experiences
The meeting offered an opportunity for the women entrepreneurs to assess and identify their
IP-related needs (for example in the area of trademarks and product branding and the use of the patent system for identifying required technologies).
It also provided a useful platform for the exchange of experiences amongst the business women.
Gender gap in IP – role of WIPO
The current global gender gap in different spheres and sectors was also an item of discussion during the meeting. In particular, the need to promote the protection, utilization and enforcement of IP by women was highlighted by WIPO.
Reference was especially made to the recent WIPO study “Identifying the gender of PCT inventors” which shows there is also a gender gap in innovation, with the share of international patent applications with female inventors standing at only 29% in 2015.
In light of these statistics, the use of the IP system could serve as an important enabler in closing this gap and in ensuring an equal playing field for both men and women.
The WIPO Division for Least Developed Countries in cooperation with the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) was encouraged to continue undertaking specific activities geared towards closing the gender gap in Least Developed Countries, in areas such as IP-related awareness raising and technological capacity building.