With the launch of a pilot phase of a new business portal called Biz Portal by South Africa’s Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), registration a business in South Africa can now be completed in a day, as against the 40 days registration period previously in place.
The single integrated company registration platform will enable entrepreneurs to register a business within a day in South Africa, which is a dramatic improvement on current turnaround times of 40 days recorded by the World Bank in its ‘2020 Ease of Doing Business’ report.
“The portal is a pioneering and innovative project for government e-services. It will improve the time and ease for young people to start new enterprises.” Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel said at the launch of the portal
Here Is All You Need To Know
- According to the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report, South Africa has slipped from 32nd in 2009 to 82nd in 2019, and further down to 84 in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2020 Report
“While South Africa has undertaken some reforms over the past decade, its ranking declined over the period,” Patel said, in August, 2019.
“As the World Bank Survey at times affect investor perceptions of a country, there has been a focus on country improvement in the rankings.
“More importantly, some of the indicators used in the Survey coincides with our own domestic goals to make it easier for small and medium businesses to start up and stay in business.”
Using Biz Portal South Africans Can Obtain Business Certificate, Domain Name, Tax ID Number, Bank Account. All In One Place
Through collaborating with the South African Revenue Services, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and the Compensation Fund (CF), Biz Portal has made it possible for applicants of private companies to obtain:
- Company registration
- A tax registration number
- Domain name registration
- Broad-based black economic empowerment certificate ( B-BBEE Certificate)
- Compensation Fund registration
- Unemployment Insurance Fund registration
- A business bank account.
The three-month pilot phase of the system will be strengthened to make provision for other services related to running and maintaining a business.
“From a customers’ perspective, there is no need to visit multiple government institutions, saving them time and money. Such seamless registration services will enable entrepreneurs to focus on transforming innovative ideas into beneficial products and services, which will contribute to the creation of jobs in our country,” Patel said
Minister Patel notes that the Biz Portal entails company registration functions that have already been tried and tested for several years within the CIPC’s E-services environment.
This will also cater for options in terms of registering for UIF and Compensation Fund Reference Numbers.
Four major banks are participating on the platform. Depending on the nature of the agreement, the customer will be able to make a direct payment in relation to the registration services at the end of the transaction, be routed into a safe banking platform to apply for a business account or opt for their personal details to be passed on to a bank of their choice.
In the pilot phase, the system is being tested and strengthened.
How to register on the Biz Portal
The South African public is encouraged to test this new portal while it is been piloted over the next three months. The Biz Portal is the tool for the registration of a business in South Africa and live. The URL is: bizportal.gov.za
Improving Ease of Doing Business
In August this year, Patel said that Invest South Africa, with the technical support of the World Bank, has prioritised five of the ten indicators based on the Doing Business report.
These include:
- Enforcing of contracts;
- Getting access to electricity;
- Resolving insolvency;
- Getting credit;
- Protection of minority shareholders.
A road map has been developed with short term reform action plans (6–8 months) and medium to long term (18–24) months.
“The Department of Trade and Industry together with National Treasury have been working with the World Bank and the private sector to increase the pool of respondents and have hosted workshops to familiarise respondents with the survey questionnaire as it is detailed and requires an understanding of the case study and the core assumptions related to the methodology, “he said.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world