Botswana has had continuous periods of economic growth thanks to a sound macroeconomic regime. Botswana has a high literacy rate and a stable labor economy. Botswana has no foreign exchange regulations, allowing profits and dividends to be fully repatriated. Botswana has an excellent legal system and a zero-tolerance policy for corruption.
Botswana’s Company Registration Process
To register a business in Botswana, you must follow specified procedures, with the Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), requiring business name reservation and submission of incorporation documents at the top of the list. This is the authority in charge of registering all enterprises in Botswana. The following are the procedures:
Application
You must first prepare an application for the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority. Then you must create a list of at least three potential business names. It’s a good idea to check the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Botswana’s database to see if your proposed business names are already taken. When you submit your business name to CIPA, you should receive a response within three to five working days, and once approval is complete, you can be confident that your business name has been reserved. This will last a month. CIPA requires you to pay the registration fee of P15-20 when submitting forms 1 and RBN1A; they must be presented with the applicant’s identity documents.
Certificate of Statutory Compliance
Having reserved the business name, you’ll need to have a Commissioner of Oaths sign a certification of statutory compliance with a signature from the business delegate for incorporation. After that, turn in the business registration form. This is based on CIPA’s approval of; the business’s availability, an authority to act as shareholders, directors, auditors, company secretaries, and registered officers jointly with their national ID or passports, as well as a declaration to the Registrar of Companies of compliance with the business secretary’s practicing license.
Location assessment
Following the completion of step 2, a weekly activity of assessing the location where your firm will function is to be completed. The Ministry of Trade and Industry, as well as the Department of Industrial Affairs, engage in this practice. This is done in collaboration with the business’s health department (to analyze health and life-related implications), urban town planning department (to determine if the firm fits in a region), and environment department (to assess environmental impact).
Operating license
The next step is to obtain an operating license from the town municipal council or the ministry of trade and industry’s industrial affairs department.
Bank account
Then you’ll need to open a business bank account, which will be utilized for your day-to-day business transactions.
Tax Identification Number
Obtain a TIN (tax identification number) from the Botswana Unified Revenue Service and complete the taxpayer registration form; this allows you to pay and clear taxes through business activities.
Registration for VAT
It is now necessary to register with the customs and excise department for VAT, which stands for Value Added Tax (a tax levied indirectly on manufactured and customized items).
Commencement of operation
Finally, you can begin running your business operations and hiring staff as soon as you have all of the necessary documents, contracts, and employee insurance in place, as well as any other requirements you may be aware of.
Online Business Formation
Online registration is a speedier approach to registering a corporation in Botswana. The following are the steps to register a business online:
- Fill out all the needed information on www.mti.gov.bw’s firm registration and application forms.
- Submit your application online through the CIPA’s Online Business Registration System (OBRS).
- Click next to your name and enter your login information.
- To proceed to the required contact information, upload your identity page and click next.
- If you have access to your dashboard, click the link for creating a business and then proceed to the registration process.
- On the next page, fill in your general business information before moving on to the address page.
- Click next to the postal address page after entering the main address information and location data, such as plot number, street, or city.
- Add a proprietor to the page, confirm the legitimacy of the proprietor’s details and attached papers, and submit.
- The payment page follows; choose the method you want to use to clear your payments (credit/debit card, mobile money, or deposit account), fill in the relevant information, and choose whether to pay immediately or later.
- CIPA will register your business name and application after a successful review and will send you registration data through email.
