Information portal a first stop for business registration

A new information portal
will help companies and
individuals wanting to expand
their business footprint in Africa
and beyond.
The United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development
(Unctad) and the Global
Entrepreneurship Week have
introduced a website that lists
online business registration
systems by country.
The Global Enterprise
Registration portal (www.
globalereg.co) provides a first
reference point for business entry
into a country.
A number of countries in West
and East Africa have information
portals.
Among the most comprehensive
are Ethiopia, Congo, Cameroon,
Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast,
Madagascar, Niger, Rwanda and
Togo.
Tanzania is currently the only
African state with an online single
window for business registration.
It provides simultaneous
registration with the Business
Registrations and Licensing
Agency (BRELA), the Tanzania
Revenue Authority (TRA) and
Social Security schemes through
the Tanzania Investment Centre.
South Africa is not listed.
“This portal will spur a race to
simplicity among governments
to make the business registration
process as easy as possible,” says
Kurt Tong, principal deputy
assistant secretary of the Bureau of
Economic and Business Affairs of
the United States of America.
“It provides a list of economies
that have taken steps towards
simplifying business registration.
More importantly, it’s a one-stopshop
to help entrepreneurs start
businesses legally anywhere in the
world.”