Last year’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, Kenya saw hundreds listen to President Barrack Obama outline his vision for Africa as a global hub for entrepreneurship and new business ideas.

More tellingly, very few people stayed for the next session on the importance of intellectual property for entrepreneurship.

Without properly understanding how intellectual property works to preserve the fruits of their labours, local businesses can find it difficult to grow.

Their industrial inventions, music, film or brands can be unfairly copied and their entrepreneurship choked.

Kenya today is host to many large, knowledge-intensive multinational businesses who use the country as a base to reach the entire East African market.

This knowledge-rich business community includes software giants, agricultural chemical manufacturers, technology developers and biopharmaceutical companies.

Companies like these in East Africa bring huge opportunities for local entrepreneurs.

Multinational companies often struggle to enter markets and address local problems due to their lack of agility and local knowledge. Collaboration with local businesses can be the key to success. In order for this to work, local businesses must confidently speak the language of intellectual property — particularly if they wish to sell their own ideas in order for them to be commercialised and scaled up by large multinational companies.

Patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, know-how, websites, social media identities, and other forms of intellectual property are the instruments by which multinationals trade with local companies. Intellectual property laws, international treaties, private company policies and technical safeguards govern these forms of intellectual property.

When a multinational wants to buy or license ideas or technology from a local company, the conversation will often be held in these terms.

Technology transfer and licensing are the most efficient ways that a promising local company armed with a great idea for the region can follow the traditional Silicon Valley model — introduce an idea, grow the business, and then get bought by a far bigger company.

Kenya’s small businesses are sitting on a rich pipeline of technology, brands and other knowledge assets that could thrive internationally if they are able to exploit their intellectual property.

iCow

Take the mobile messaging application iCow, built by dairy farmer Su Kahumbu to help farmers manage their cows’ milking schedules, and to monitor the local dairy market. The app’s code is protected by copyright, and local and international trademarks can protect the brand. These assets can be franchised to others, spreading the technology across the continent.

Icipe

Another great African prospect is a new mosquito attractant and repellent combination from the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology.

It is based on human foot odours, which are potentially less toxic than other chemical methods for controlling mosquito-borne disease.

Obtaining local and foreign patents makes it more likely that companies will seek licensing and collaborative deals with the inventors. Patents allow investors to know that the product is original and that they can protect their investment long enough to make a return.

Shujaaz

As a final example, consider Shujaaz. This locally printed and online comic is winning a growing young audience thanks to its effective social messages.

The Shujaaz platform is built on copyrights, which are recognised throughout much of the world with little cost or effort required by the creator. International publishing companies can use such copyrighted materials and platforms to reach global audiences.

Kenya is rich in intellectual property. Its entrepreneurs need to recognise and value their own knowledge assets and use them effectively to grow and sell abroad. In turn, Kenya can move further into the global economy, attract more foreign investment and trade more readily overseas. This is the key to sustainable economic growth.

Naturally, there are challenges.

Improved awareness among business people on the meaning of intellectual property terms such as “patent,” “trademark” and “copyright” is necessary, along with a better understanding of how to register these various forms of intellectual property.

Although our trademark lawyers are highly skilled, certain domestic intellectual property professionals — such as lawyers with engineering experience who can draft patents — are thin on the ground.

Such skills shortages mean that Kenyan patents are often drafted well below international standards and hamper a product’s expansion into other countries. Pursuing a career as a patent lawyer must be made more attractive to technical specialists.

The Kenya Industrial Property Institute — the country’s patent and trademark office — is very efficient by continental standards, as is the Kenya Copyright Board. These national assets must be utilised to their full potential.

Above all, East African entrepreneurs need to care about their intellectual property. It is the rocket fuel for business growth, overseas expansion and significant value creation.

Isaac Rutenberg is director of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law at Strathmore University, Nairobi. Philip Stevens is director of the Geneva Network