Tolu Olaloye

Tolu Olaloye is a partner at Jackson, Etti & Edu in Lagos, Nigeria, and a senior intellectual property and data protection lawyer. She is business head of the Asia/Middle East & Africa Unit in the IP Department and oversees the firm’s IP practice operations.

She advises multinational and local clients on intellectual property protection and commercialisation across Africa, including IP portfolio management and the structuring of franchising, licensing, and assignment arrangements across at least 30 African countries. She also supports data protection compliance work, including audits and staff training for organisations expanding across African jurisdictions.

Her practice includes advising technology, media, and entertainment clients on corporate transactions, M&A, regulatory compliance, IP strategy, and data protection, delivering commercially focused legal solutions.

Olaloye holds a degree from the University of Ibadan, an LLM from the University of Lagos, and a certification in Intellectual Property, International Taxation, and Business Communication from the University of Oxford. She is also a licensed Associate Tax Practitioner in Nigeria.

She is actively involved in IP development and advocacy across Africa, serving as Head of Advocacy Committee at the Nigerian Bar Association Women Forum, where she leads initiatives supporting and mentoring female lawyers. She also participates in IP awareness and CSR programmes, including university outreach and support for startups through Jackson, Etti & Edu’s Technology Start-Up Initiative.

She works with organisations including IPLAN, WIPO Nigeria, AFRIPI, and INTA on IP awareness and capacity-building programmes. She is part of the Technical Working Group on Geographical Indication legislation in Nigeria and has spoken at national and international IP forums, including the ALL IP Summit in Dakar.

Olaloye is a member of INTA, the Nigerian Bar Association, and NBA-SBL. She contributes to publications such as IP Africa News and has authored and co-authored IP strategy and policy articles.