Africa Intellectual Property Day (AIPD) 2026 “My IP Story” for African Entrepreneurs, Businesses and Innovators

The Africa Intellectual Property Day (AIPD) 2026 “My IP Story” initiative is inviting African entrepreneurs, innovators, creators and businesses to share how intellectual property has helped them protect an idea, create value or grow their business. Participants are expected to tell their real experience in a video of no more than five minutes under the theme “Growing Business Under The AfCFTA IP Ecosystem.”

What Is “My IP Story”?

Many African entrepreneurs build valuable brands, products, inventions and creative works without giving much thought to intellectual property until someone copies them or an opportunity to expand comes along.

The My IP Story initiative takes a different approach. It wants entrepreneurs and innovators who have actually used intellectual property to explain what happened in their own businesses.

Your story could be about a trademark that helped establish your brand, a patent that protected an invention, copyright that protected creative work, an industrial design, or another form of intellectual property that contributed to your business.

The initiative is being held as part of Africa Intellectual Property Day 2026, with the broader theme of growing businesses within the AfCFTA intellectual property ecosystem.

Who Can Participate?

The opportunity is aimed at African individuals and organisations with a genuine intellectual property story.

Potential participants include:

• Entrepreneurs and business owners
• Startup founders
• Innovators and inventors
• Creators and creative businesses
• Researchers
• Technology developers
• Small and growing businesses
• Institutions and organisations

You do not need to be a large company. What matters is that you can explain how intellectual property has played a meaningful role in your business or initiative.

The submission form allows participants to apply as either an individual or an institution.

What Is Required?

This is not a conventional grant application.

Participants are expected to produce a maximum five-minute video telling their intellectual property story.

Your video should explain:

1. Your full name.
2. Your country of origin.
3. What your business or initiative does.
4. The intellectual property right you have used.
5. How that intellectual property helped create value.
6. The benefits you gained from using or registering the IP.
7. Whether you are familiar with AfCFTA.
8. How the AfCFTA intellectual property rights ecosystem could help your business grow across African markets.

The organisers are interested in real experiences, so there is no need to turn the video into a formal lecture about intellectual property.

If registering your trademark helped customers recognise your business, explain that. If protecting your innovation helped you attract a partner or enter another market, tell that story.

Video Requirements

There are several requirements participants should check before submitting.

The video must:

• Be no longer than five minutes.
• Clearly identify the storyteller.
• State the storyteller’s country of origin.
• Explain the role of IP in creating value.
• Identify the relevant intellectual property right.
• Explain the benefit of the IP.
• Address the AfCFTA IP ecosystem.
• Be presented in an African Union language.

The organisers also state that submissions in languages other than English should include English subtitles.

The submission form also requires information about the business or initiative and allows one video file to be uploaded, with a maximum file size of 1GB.

What Does AfCFTA Have to Do With Intellectual Property?

This is the part that makes the initiative more interesting for African businesses.

The African Continental Free Trade Area is intended to create a larger and more integrated African market. For businesses hoping to sell products, licens e technology, build brands or expand into other African countries, in tellectual property protection becomes increasingly important.

A business may have a valuable brand in Nigeria, for example, but expanding into other African markets raises questions about how that brand, invention, design or creative work will be protected.

The 2026 Africa IP Day therefore focuses on how intellectual property can support businesses operating within the emerging AfCFTA ecosystem.

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Why Should Entrepreneurs Participate?

There is no advertised cash prize attached to the My IP Story submission. The purpose is to showcase successful African experiences with intellectual property.

For a business owner, that still has value.

Participating gives you an opportunity to:

• Showcase your business story.
• Explain how your IP created value.
• Highlight your innovation or brand.
• Contribute to the wider African IP conversation.
• Demonstrate how intellectual property can support business growth.
• Share your experience with other entrepreneurs and innovators.

It can also force you to look at your own business differently.

Many entrepreneurs know that they have a brand, product, design, software or creative work, but have never stopped to consider what part of it is actually an intellectual asset.

How to Make Your Video Stand Out

Do not spend the first three minutes explaining what intellectual property means.

Tell your story.

Start with who you are and what you built. Then explain the problem you faced and the intellectual property involved. Most importantly, explain what changed after you protected, registered or used that intellectual property.

For example:

“We started our business in 2021 and initially focused on selling locally. After registering our trademark, we were able to build a more recognisable brand and begin discussions with distributors outside our state.”

That tells a story.

The judges and viewers can understand what the business was like before the IP decision and what happened afterwards.

End by explaining what you think the AfCFTA IP ecosystem could mean for your next stage of growth.

Deadline

Application deadline: 31 August 2026.

The Africa IP Day 2026 event itself is scheduled to take place online on 10 September 2026. (AfCFTA Media Hub)

How to Apply

Interested African entrepreneurs, businesses, creators and innovators should prepare their five-minute video and submit it through the official submission form.

Application Link: Apply for AIPD 2026 “My IP Story”

The Africa Intellectual Property Day 2026 “My IP Story” is a useful opportunity for entrepreneurs whose businesses have a genuine IP journey to share. You do not need to invent an impressive story. A real experience involving a trademark, patent, copyright, design or another intellectual property right is what the initiative is looking for.

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