Recently updated on October 21st, 2022 at 08:36 pm
Susan Chioma Omeh has emerged winner of the 2021 IP First Essay Competition organised by IP First Group with sponsorship by Stillwaters Law Firm and Bridgeforte Attorneys in commemoration of the 2021 World IP Day.
The theme of the essay was “IP & SMEs: Taking your ideas to market”.
For her feat in winning the competition, which was declared on June 2, 2021 by the coordinator named Amala Umeike, she receives an award of ₦200,000.
Ms. Susan Chioma Omeh who is a 500-level (final year) student of Law at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), declares in her essay:
“Everyday, SMEs come up with intelligent ideas to better our economy but soon fold up due to lack of finance, theft of these ideas, absence of technology, inability to establish a distinct product image as well as inability to properly compete.
We cannot overemphasize the importance of a robust intellectual property system for better SMEs. When SMEs leverage on the exclusivity offered by a robust IP system; utilize IP finance; maximize the distinctiveness provided by the trademarks and designs system; and leverage on IP asset valuation and management, we all would benefit from an economy whose major contributors are made more equipped to serve us all.”
Susan Chioma Omeh, Winner of the 2021 IP First Essay Competition shared her experiences, thoughts and insights with PositiveNaija on June 19, 2021.
Motivation for participating in the competition
Susan: I figured that the monetary prize from the essay could go a long way in helping me in law school. I have been thinking of how to relieve my family of the financial stress that comes with law school. That was the motivation. Also, the Dean of my faculty, Dr. Samuel Nwatu and my friend and mentor, Mr. Christian Aniukwu sent me the essay flier. So I figured that it took lots of belief in me to have them send me the flier. I did not want to let that belief down.
Factors that helped me win
Susan: I am presently offering IP Law in my final year and so I had enough knowledge to start off with in writing the essay. I also write (freelance), I love writing; so writing for the essay came off easily. In addition, I won an IP Essay last year so I figured that if I could do that then maybe I can pull this year’s own off too.
Relevance of the essay to the Nigerian society
Susan: My essay was more of an advice to SMEs in Nigeria on how to get better by leveraging on the IP system. However, the major relevance of this essay, I believe is the ideas contained there in that could better the Nigerian IP space to allow SMEs benefit from a robust IP system while ensuring economic development for Nigeria in the long run.
Most SMEs have no idea on how to go about protecting their creations or brands; we could attach probono lawyers to our trademarks, patent and designs registry to take care of this. They would be there to give free advice each step of the way. Importantly also, most SMEs die so soon because their inventions never see the light of the day either due to theft by bigger companies or lack of finance. In the latter, I suggested IP financing: selling your intangible assets or pitching them to get investment while signing non-disclosure agreement with such potential investors. For the former, Nigeria should subsidize WIPO Proof for SMEs. WIPO Proof allows you to save or document each stage of your invention before it is in fact completed. It means that I have a higher chance as an SME of proving that this invention was started by me and was stolen (if ever it gets stolen before completion). Also, I strongly advised to divert IP Education from just schools and start moving into markets, social media, radios, TV stations and selling IP Education in our movies.
