Sand Mba Kalu

Executive Director @ Africa International Trade and Commerce Research

Bio

Sand Mba Kalu is an International Trade, Investment expert for the African market with over 15 years of professional experience, working in a complex multicultural environment. He is the current Executive Director of Africa International Trade and Commerce Research, an international trade firm for the African market. He is the convener of the Africa IP Centre, with membership across the continent. He has played lead roles in business development, conferences, keynote presentations, consultancy and research. Geographical Indication (GI) is an aspect of intellectual property rights that Sand Mba-Kalu has an excellent, pronounced, strong and distinct professional competency, including stakeholders engagement in Nigeria. Over the years, Sand Mba Kalu has worked extensively on GI projects across Nigeria and has partnered with various relevant stakeholders that cut across several African sectors and comprises many engagements, which include assignments managed for the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Nigeria Office, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), AfrIPI project, the World Bank, African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO), Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI), the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN), the Embassy of France, the French Development Agency (AFD), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Sub-Saharan Business Networks, Synergos, MSC Worldwide Projects, Federal Ministry of Agriculture Rural-Urban Development, Policy Development Facility 2 (PDF II), Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and other reputable institutions. Sand Mba-Kalu’s experience with working in a multi-sectoral environment, particularly in terms of strengthening collaboration between the government and stakeholders, will be very handy in this project has been a lead presenter, technical consultant, convener of several programmes, seminars, roundtable discussions, workshops and events geared towards promoting the concept of GI in Nigeria. Other programmes Sand has implemented on GI in Nigeria is by organising the national Sustainable Development of Nigeria Geographical Indications (GIs) - Stakeholder Engagement 2017, and the 2nd Edition of Nigerian Geographical Indication Stakeholder Dialogue, 2018, Theme: "Making Nigerian GI Global", including the most recent event that was jointly hosted a webinar series with World Intellectual Property Organisation on the Importance of Geographical Indications to the Sustainable Development of Nigeria. He has had one of his research works presented at a PUBLIC HEARING in European Parliament, Brussels, to the Committee on International Trade, themed; Africa Rising? Trade policy responses to sustainable growth challenges: Trade and investment as enablers of economic transformation of Sub-Saharan Africa. Sand also participated in the UN policy Hackathon on Model Provisions for Trade in Times of Crisis and Pandemic in Regional and Other Trade Agreement competition. (Trade Facilitation and Sustainability in the ECOWAS Region in Crisis Time https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/26%20Final-Team%20Sand%20Mba%20Kalu-Nigeria.pdf) Sand holds a certificate in Trade Negotiations in an Era of Uncertainty from European University Institute, Italy and a Master’s in Business and Management from the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom; Bachelor’s degree in International Trade from the University of Portsmouth, UK and currently a PhD candidate at University of Cape Town, South Africa. He also holds a Certificate in Professional Consultancy, Value Management, Certificate in Management Consulting Essential (CMCE), and has attended several professional development courses with International Trade Centre (ITC), World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Bank, and Future Learning, UK. He is a member of several noble professional bodies and an enthusiast of Formula 1 Motor Sport.

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