Africa dominates latest WIPO Magazine

Stills from Nollywood -- a phenomenon
that is far from still ...

The second issue of WIPO Magazine for 2014 carries an article, "Raising IP Awareness in Africa: A Call to Action", by John O. Kakonge (Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations Office in Geneva and the World Trade Organization). You can read this article in full here.

A second Africa-oriented article in the same issue, "A Peak Inside Nigeria’s Film Industry" [Afro Leo thinks that should be 'Peek; but never mind!] authored by Sandra Oyewole (Partner, Olajide Oyewole LLP), examines the maturing potential of Nollywoood. You can read this article in full here.

While the two articles are apparently on quite different topics, the one dealing with enhancing and promoting innovation in Africa as a whole, the other focusing on the film industry in Nigeria, their themes are actually in harmony: the need to protect young industries from piracy, the imperative to provide adequate funding, the pressing importance of education and the importance of capacity-building.  These are indeed the four bases upon which not only Africa, but all of us, must build in order to encourage the creativity and innovation that will underpin our efforts to improve the conditions in which we all live in this increasingly interconnected world.