LIPO, UNIDO Open Business and Intellectual Property Clinic in Nimba County

The Liberia Intellectual Property Office and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization have opened the Nimba County leg of the Business and Intellectual Property Management Clinic, bringing together local entrepreneurs for four days of training in intellectual property protection and business management.

The clinic, implemented in partnership with UNIDO through its grow-2 project, is designed to help Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises identify and protect their intellectual property assets while strengthening their financial management, branding, marketing and enterprise planning practices.

The Nimba leg of the clinic, which runs from June 15 to 18, follows similar clinics held in Lofa and Bong counties. The initiative targets 100 MSMEs across Lofa, Bong, Nimba and Margibi counties, particularly businesses operating in agriculture, agro-processing and related value chains.

At the opening on Monday, Hon. Jamus P. Bannah, LIPO’s Deputy Director General for Industrial Property, and Mr. Dave Asa Newton, Senior National Value Chain Expert for UNIDO GROW-2, praised the Nimba participants for the variety and quality of the products they brought along.

Hon. Bannah added that the products demonstrated that businesses in the county already possess products and commercial identities with the potential to reach wider markets.

“The products displayed here show that Nimba County has businesses with real potential,” Hon. Bannah said. “The next step is for the owners to protect their brands, improve their presentation and use the knowledge from this clinic to expand their businesses.”

Similarly, Mr. Newton noted that the products reflected the creativity and enterprise of the participants but added that business expansion would also require proper financial records, pricing systems, marketing plans and brand protection.

Mr. Newton urged the participants to combine product quality with stronger business management practices to improve their competitiveness and readiness for larger markets.

The four-day clinic will focus on industrial property, with emphasis on trademarks, industrial designs and trade secrets, and will cover bookkeeping, costing and pricing, financial management, branding, customer engagement and enterprise planning.

Participants will also receive practical guidance on identifying intellectual property assets and preparing trademark applications while participating in a project pitch competition.

According to LIPO and UNIDO officials, the county-level clinics are intended to bring intellectual property and business development services closer to entrepreneurs outside Monrovia and help local businesses move from informal operations toward protected brands and sustainable growth.