Mr. Abdoulie Colley is the Acting Registrar General at the Attorney General's Chambers and Ministry of Justice. He is the head of Deeds Registry, Marriage Registry and Intellectual Property Office which are all under the purview of Registrar General Department.
Mr. Colley attended Nustrat High School from 1994 to 1998 and achieved Distinction Division One. He enrolled at the University of The Gambia and graduated in 2012 with LLB (Hons). Mr. Colley did his Bar professional course at The Gambia Law School and emerged as the valedictorian in 2014. Mr. Colley proceeded to do his Masters in Intellectual Property (MIP) with Africa University, Mutare Republic of Zimbabwe where he graduated as the third best student.
Prior to joining Attorney General's Chambers and Ministry of Justice Mr. Colley was a First Class Magistrate with Judiciary of The Gambia where he started as a First-Class Magistrate in 2012. He rose to the position of Senior Magistrate and was the Acting Principal Magistrate of Kanifing Magistrate's Court in 2014 to 2015.
Mr. Colley is an Adjunct lecturer at the University of The Gambia. He represents Attorney General's Chambers at the General Legal Council and is a Board Member to a number of Government institutions. He is married with three children.
Director General - Liberia Intellectual Property Office (LIPO)
Liberia
Profile of Madam Hon. P. Adelyn Cooper
Atty. P. Adelyn Cooper is the current Director-General of the Liberia Intellectual Property Office (LIPO). She is a result-oriented, motivated and a character of integrity. She is also the current Chairperson for the Administrative Council of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) 2019-2021 respectively.
Atty. Cooper has over six (6) years professional experience working in the Legal field in Liberia. She once served as the gender focal person, Acting Director of Felonious Crimes Division, and a former Prosecutor at the Ministry of Justice, Republic of Liberia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology with emphasis in Mass Communications from the University of Liberia and a Bachelor Degree in Law from the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia. Over the years, she has gained knowledge and experience in various professional disciplines that are critical to success.
Prior to her appointment as LIPO's Director General, Atty. Cooper served as Prosecutor for the Ministry of Justice, Republic of Liberia, where she worked with persecutors on various cases involving Criminal, and Civil Litigation, as well as cases involving women and children.
Under her leadership as LIPO's DG, LIPO successfully coordinated with ARIPO for the hosting of the 43rd Session Administrative Council Meeting and 17th Session of the Council of Ministers of ARIPO held at the Farmington Hotel in Margibi County. She also successfully coordinated and chaired the 44th Session Administrative Council Meeting of ARIPO held in a hybrid format in 2020.
Her leadership has made series of strides including: the signing of a new set of Policy Guidelines Establishing the Collective Management Organization (Copyright Society of Liberia-COSOL), the establishment of Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) in Liberia and the building of staff's capacity through enrollment into the Master in IP training program.
Chief Executive Officer - Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA)
Namibia
Profile of Ms Vivienne Katjiuongua
Ms. Vivienne Elke Katjiuongua is the Chief Executive Officer for the Business and Intellectual Property Authority. She holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) (Cum Laude) in International Trade, Investment and Business Law from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa in collaboration with the Washington College of Law, American University, Washington DC, USA. She also has Postgraduate Diploma in Economics for Competition Law (Kings College London), Baccalaureus Juris Degree (B. Juris) (UNAM), Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLM) (UNAM) and she is an admitted Legal Practitioner in the Republic of Namibia.
Ms. Katjiuongua has over 17 years of leadership and work experience across international, regional and national organisations and entities from both the public and private sectors. In 2015, Ms Katjiuongua served as a Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of International Trade Centre (ITC) in Geneva, Switzerland. She also served as a Director for Businesses Practices at the Namibia Competition Commission (2010 -2015), Trade Advisor at the Agricultural Trade Forum (2009-2010), and Government Attorney (2001-2009).
In October 2019 during the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Conference in Geneva, Ms Katjiongua was appointed as the President to serve for a period of two years.
Ms. Katjiuongua served on various Boards including Vice Chairperson at the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (2019 to date), Trustee of the Namibia Mid-Cap Fund (2019 to date), Member of FIFA Normalization Committee (2019 to date), Chairperson of the Namibia Sports Commission (2012-2015), Regional Anti-doping Organization (RADO) Zone VI as Board member and Vice Chairperson of the Regional Anti-doping Organization (RADO) (2011-2015), and Board Member of the Executive Committee of the African Union Regional Sports Council (AUSC Region V) (2011- 2015).
In addition, Ms. Katjiuongua is a member of various professional bodies including the Law Society of Namibia and Alumni of the Center for American and International Law (Texas, USA).
Registrar General - Office of the Registrar General - Rwanda Development Board (RDB)
Rwanda
Profile of Mr. Richard Kayibanda
Richard Kayibanda is the Registrar General/ Head of Department, Rwanda Development Board since 2018. Prior to that he was a Lecturer of Law at University of Rwanda (formerly National University of Rwanda) since 2009. He was also a practicing lawyer on the roll of advocates of Rwanda Bar Association and a member of East African Law Society. He is a Certified Mediator. He holds a Master's degree (LLM) in Business Law from University of Rwanda and has a Diploma in Legal Practice from the Institute of Legal Practice and Development. He has carried out a couple of consultancies for both public and private institutions on legal subjects. He published a number of articles on various legal topics.
Administrator & Registrar General - The Office of the Administrator and Registrar General (OARG)
Sierra Leone
Profile of Madam Barrister Saptieu Elizabeth Saccoh
Saptieu Elizabeth Saccoh is the Administrator and Registrar-General, Office of the Administrator and Registrar-General of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
She is a lawyer by profession with a Master's degree in Administration, Bachelor of Laws with Honours, Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics degrees, and several other professional certificates from short courses in her field of expertise, including public sector result based management; sovereign credit rating for Sierra Leone, including high level representation in inter-governmental and interagency meetings both within and out of Sierra Leone.
She has served in different capacities including secretary and head of several institutions of governance including board member for Prisons Watch Sierra Leone, the Center for Coordination of Youths’ Activities , teacher of the Albert Academy and currently Secretary to the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC)
Ms.Saccoh is a well-respected legal practitioner with a wealth of experience in public administration and a very strong sense of hard work and discipline.
Registrar General - Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB)
Uganda
Profile of Ms Mercy K. Kainobwisho
Mercy K. Kainobwisho is a qualified, competent and experienced female Advocate of the Courts of Judicature with 15 years experience specializing in Business /Company law and Intellectual Property Law. She has extensive experience in the said subjects as well as oil and gas laws in Uganda and has participated in developing and reviewing related legal regimes, reforms to ease registration processes, mediations concerning intellectual property oppositions and conflicts between shareholders, subscribers in company maters and has given general legal /technical advice on business, intellectual property laws and practice.
Kainobwisho holds; Master of Laws (LLM) in Intellectual Property from the University of Turin- Italy; Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA) at Makerere University Training in CopyrightX from Harvard Law School, Post graduate certificate in Oil and Gas, Certificate in Leadership from the Rotary Leadership Training Certificate in Leadership from the Oakseeds Institute of National Transformation Training in Innovation Policies for Least Developing Countries from the World Bank Academy Courses in Intellectual Property from the World Intellectual Property Organization Academy, United States Patent Office, Japan Patent Office, Korea Industrial Property Office, Swedish Patent Office etc Post graduate Diploma in legal Practice from the Law Development Center-Uganda Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from Makerere University And several other qualifications and trainings.
Kainobwisho is currently the Registrar General, Uganda Registration Services Bureau(URSB), having successfully served as the Director of Intellectual Property at URSB , Director of Business Registration at URSB, Manager Intellectual Property at URSB, State Attorney with Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Legal Assistant at Shonubi Musoke & Co Advocates.
Kainobwisho has won a number of Awards including but not limited to being: Among the 40 Most influential Women in Africa in 2019- The Africa Diversity and inclusion Center Social Media Influencer 2019/20 The Best Female Corporate Lawyer in Uganda Public Sector- 2018 The best 40 under 40 young people in Uganda -2018 Voted the Smartest Employee at URSB-2017 Kainobwisho plays snooker, volley ball and enjoys writing , reading, listening to music, cooking and is a counsellor. Kainobwisho is passionate about youth mentorship and skilling and women empowerment.
Kainobwisho is a member of the Uganda Law Society, the Uganda Women Lawyers Association, East African Law Society, and Rotary International.
