Unlocking Africa’s Hidden Value: How WIPO’s IP Diagnostic Tool is Empowering MSMEs to Compete Smarter
1. Simple: The Core Message 🧲
Africa’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are overflowing with creativity but much of their true value remains invisible. Intellectual Property (IP) is the language of that value. The WIPO IP Diagnostic Tool is designed to help entrepreneurs identify, protect and grow what makes their business unique, from a catchy brand name to a groundbreaking innovation.
2. Unexpected: The Missed Opportunity 🪙
When we think of business growth, we often picture access to finance, infrastructure or technology. Yet 80% of an enterprise’s value today lies in its intangible assets which are its ideas, brand, designs and data.
Here’s the twist: while African MSMEs are innovating daily, few recognize their everyday innovations as intellectual property and fewer still know how to protect or commercialize them.
The WIPO IP Diagnostic Tool flips this reality by democratizing IP awareness and strategy, turning complex legal jargon into a practical self-assessment that any entrepreneur can use at no cost (free), online and tailored to their industry.
3. Concrete: How the Tool Works 🧰
Developed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the diagnostic tool acts like a virtual IP consultant.
Here’s how it helps MSMEs step-by-step:
- Self-Assessment: Users answer guided questions about their products, branding, creative work or technology.
- Tailored Report: The tool generates a customized report showing what types of IP (trademarks, patents, designs, copyrights etc.) are most relevant to their business.
- Actionable Recommendations: It provides a roadmap to register, manage, or license IP assets and points to local IP offices and resources.
For a small agritech startup in Kenya, it can reveal how to patent its irrigation sensor. For a fashion brand in Ghana, it highlights how to trademark its label and design patterns.
It’s IP made simple, strategic and scalable.
4. Why it Matters for Africa 🌍
Consider a women-led skincare enterprise in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, crafting products from indigenous botanicals. The general assumption would be that IP was only for large corporations.
However, through using the tool, she could learn how to trademark her brand, protect her packaging design and even explore a geographical indication (GI) for her locally sourced ingredients.
Her products now stand out not only for their quality but also for their authentic African identity protected by IP rights which will lead to opened doors to new markets and partnerships.
Conclusion: Turning Knowledge into Power 📖
The WIPO IP Diagnostic Tool isn’t just a digital platform; it is a bridge between innovation and inclusion.
For Africa’s MSMEs, it represents the next frontier of competitiveness where protecting ideas becomes as natural as producing goods.
As the continent continues its industrial transformation under the AfCFTA, leveraging IP will be the difference between being a market of consumers and a continent of creators.
Call to Action:
Explore the tool at https://www.wipo.int/ipdiagnostics
Discover your IP potential and start owning the value you create.