OAPI ANNOUNCES THE 2025 WINNERS OF THE OAPI BRAND AWARDS

The biennial OAPI Brand Awards that took place from 8 – 10 October 2025, culminated with an evening of glamour and luxury as 4 companies received awards at the closing ceremony.

Now in its 5^th edition, the award ceremony that rewards excellence in Intellectual Property in the 17 OAPI member states, took place in Libreville, Gabon.

The theme for this latest edition of awards was ‘The brand, a lever for business performance’. The theme arose directly from the lessons learnt from the audits conducted by OAPI, in partnership with the French National Institute of Industrial Property, during previous editions of the awards. The audits disclosed that companies do not always exploit their protected rights to their full extent.  In discussing the theme, the Director General of OAPI, stated that ‘a well-valued brand can represent an element of the business assets whose value sometimes exceeds the company’s physical assets’.

This year’s list of winners are:

1. Recipient of the Grand Prix award was Dodo (Mali), a subsidiary of the Plastics and Elastomers of Mali (Pem) group;
2. Recipient of the Regional Brand Award, was KYA-SOP (Togo), a pioneer in energy production;
3. The SME Prize was awarded to Mas et Famille Cooperative (Gabon), a Gabonese proprietor that specialises in local cosmetics and fruit juices;
4. The Public Prize was awarded to Kakuka (Gabon)– a Gabonese publishing house.

In accepting the Grand Prix award, the recipient acknowledged that national companies, when they integrate intellectual property into their marketing and marketing strategies, can compete with the continent’s largest brands.

The awards, and the recognition of both large and small companies, within the OAPI member states also serves as an acknowledgement of the considerable potential within the region that represents a unique market of more than 200 million consumers.