By Mohamed Sheriff, Information Attaché, Geneva, Switzerland
Sierra Leone’s Administrator and Registrar General, Ms Martina Baindu Egbenda, has made a significant mark on the international stage, reinforcing her country’s commitment to intellectual property (IP) reform and gender-inclusive innovation at the 2026 Women and IP Symposium for IP Offices, held in Geneva from 11–13 May 2026.
The symposium, organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) under its Gender Action Plan, brought together member states to advance women’s participation in global IP systems.
Ms Egbenda’s participation aligns with the transformative strides Sierra Leone has made under President Julius Maada Bio’s administration, particularly through the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act 2022. The legislation has significantly boosted women’s representation in governance, with women now occupying over 30 per cent of parliamentary seats and key leadership positions across government and public institutions.
The symposium covered a wide range of critical themes, including improving sex-disaggregated data measurement in IP and innovation; designing inclusive policy frameworks for women innovators and entrepreneurs; IP education and capacity building for women and girls; empowering women in AI and the digital economy; and advancing public–private partnerships for women-inclusive innovation ecosystems, among others.
During the symposium, Ms Egbenda held productive bilateral discussions with the Director of the WIPO Academy, focusing on strategic partnerships for Sierra Leone’s IP office and key reforms aimed at advancing intellectual property rights as a tool for sustainable economic growth.
Addressing fellow delegates, she called on WIPO to provide member states with practical, ready-to-adopt tools: “I believe WIPO can help member states by providing legal and administrative templates, such as fast-track procedures for women-led applications, model IP clauses that support women entrepreneurs, and guidelines for gender-responsive IP offices,” she said.
She further urged WIPO to work with governments to embed IP within national gender strategies, STEM education plans, and entrepreneurship programmes, stressing that IP should not be treated as a niche legal matter confined to specialists.
Sierra Leone has recently taken concrete steps to modernise its IP landscape. These include efforts to establish a Collective Management Organisation to strengthen copyright administration, as well as the launch of Intellectual Property School Clubs during World Intellectual Property Day—an initiative aimed at building grassroots public awareness of IP rights.
Ms Egbenda’s active engagement at this year’s symposium is expected to pave the way for enhanced WIPO technical and capacity-building support for Sierra Leone in the coming months, including engagements in China and Geneva.
