





Chief Guest Dr. Mary Teopista (Center), Amb. Francis Butagira, Registrar General Ms. Mercy K. Kainobwisho and URSB board members pose for a photo at the URSB ISO Certification External Stakeholders celebration
Hon. Nobert Mao congratulates the Registrar General, Ms. Mercy K. Kainobwisho, and Board member, Ms. Lydia A. Sekkabira on the ISO 9001:2015 certification milestone
Mr. Hamidu Tumuhimbise, a senior Registration Officer, attends to a client during the UEB claimants exercise at the Uganda Business Facilitation Center, Kololo
A delegation from PACRA led by the Deputy Registrar Mr. Chewe Peter Chilufya (Center) visited URSB for a 3 days benchmarking visit on the Intellectual Property Registry on how systems operate, the digital improvements implemented and how these reforms contribute to reduced turnaround time
A delegation from UNOC visits URSB to benchmark on the Digital Transformation Journey.
Director General WIPO Mr. Daren Tang, Minister of Justice Hon. Nobert Mao, The Registrar General Ms. Mercy K. Kainobwisho, URSB Board members a delegation from WIPO pause for a photo at the Uganda Business Facilitation Center during the DG’s mission to Uganda

Registrar General calls for bold reforms in women’s IP participation at 2025 WIPO Symposium
The Registrar General, Ms. Mercy K. Kainobwisho, has pointed out the urgent need for transformative reforms to enhance women’s participation in intellectual property (IP) initiatives across Africa.
Ms. Kainobwisho emphasised the importance of women’s contributions to intellectual property at the 2025 Women and IP Symposium, held at the WIPO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, from 30th April to 2nd May 2025.
In her presentation, she underlined that achieving gender parity in innovation requires decisive action from IP leaders, inclusive IP policies, and investment in women-centred IP initiatives.
She highlighted Uganda’s transformative initiatives designed to empower women through IP, most notably the Shea Butter Geographical Indication (GI) Initiative and collaborations.
Underscoring the vital role of youth inclusion, the Registrar General highlighted the recently launched UGYouth4IP Campaign, which is inspired by the WIPO-CIPO course and focuses on “Empowering Youth through IP Education.“
Despite women’s capabilities, they remain under-represented in the IP field due to structural and socio-economic barriers, Ms. Kainobwisho stated, asserting that a genderequal IP ecosystem by 2035 relies on bold reforms and unwavering commitment.
The 2025 symposium reflects WIPO’s strategic commitment to working with IP offices and governments to foster women’s participation in IP, as outlined in the IP and Gender Action Plan (IPGAP).