Title: Senior Counselor

Company: WIPO

Location: Geneva, Switzerland

People who have worked with Joyce Banya or interacted with her on a personal level know Ms. Banya for being a very driven woman who will let nothing stand in the way of attaining her goals. They are not surprised that she is at the top of her game today.. A career diplomat for Uganda, Ms. Banya has served in senior positions in a number of bi-lateral and multilateral embassies for her country in Africa and in Europe. Her last posting before becoming senior counselor at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) was to the Uganda Mission in Geneva. There, she was responsible for social and humanitarian affairs and acted as a liaison, to organizations like UNHCR, WHO, IOM and other specialized United Nations agencies, such as ITU and WIPO. That is where she became captivated by the interesting world of intellectual property.

Ms. Banya says that there are many memorable things she has experienced during her career, but the one thing that is most satisfying is the intellectual property and product branding projects in Uganda, during which she used IP to enhance the marketability and value addition and competitiveness of the Uganda vanilla and sesame. Ms. Banya brings quite a presence to the table with her sharp wit and confidence; from her early days in Uganda’s foreign service, to being a major player in intellectual property at the international level. This success, she says, comes from her parents’ influence. Her father, the late Raymond Banya, a former education officer, who worked in the early times of post-colonial Uganda, encouraged and instilled in each of his children the desire to excel in education. Ms. Banya has a brother and sister.

‘In the course of the project, I had the opportunity to meet and interact with the farmers at the grass root level, many of whom were women and widows. I could see how the success of the project would mean transformation of the poor peasant farmers by increasing their earnings from crop production. This would mean financial empowerment; an improved livelihood; they would also be able to send their children to school and access better health care. To me, this kind of project gives a human face to intellectual property,’ Ms. Banya says in her own words.