Swaziland is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. One of Africa’s smallest countries, it is bounded by Mozambique in the northeast, and South Africa in the north, south, southeast, and west. The country’s official name is the Kingdom of Eswatini.
The country’s economy is diverse, the major sectors include agriculture, forestry, and mining. It ranks among other economies that provide ease to do business. The Swaziland currency, the lilangeni, is pegged to the South African rand, due to their closure, the Eswatini monetary policy is subsumed to that of South Africa.
There are various ways of doing business in Swaziland, the most common is setting up an LLC, as an alternative for foreign investors, they can incorporate a PLC, a representative office, or a branch office.
Limited Liability Company
Entrepreneurs that commonly incorporate an LLC are those setting up a small/medium enterprise (SME). The entity can be set up with 1 shareholder and director, they can be non-resident foreigners. The setup procedure is completed with only $1 as share capital.
It is required for the LLC to appoint an auditor if the number of editors exceeds 5 and the share capital is more than $3.4 million.
Public Limited Company
When promoters intend to publicize a company, they set up a PLC. This means the entity can be set up with 7 shareholders and 2 directors, all of them can be non-resident foreigners. The share capital to complete the setup of the entity is $1.
It is required to appoint an auditor within 30 days of being approved by the Kingdom of Eswatini to start operations.
A Branch Office
The law of the Kingdom of Eswatini allows full ownership of branches by foreign companies incorporated in its kingdom. Their operations range here is determined by the kingdom’s law. It is expected that the branch office will have independent management and a corporate bank account in any bank of their choice in the Kingdom of Eswatini.
A Representation Office
The representation office in Swaziland is fully owned by the foreign company, it is not allowed to make any direct sales in the market of the country, they are however allowed as a body to engage in market research and promote businesses for the parent company.
