TANZANIA: BRELA BEGINS ONLINE REGISTRATION

THE country's competitiveness in attracting domestic and foreign investments is set to get a new boost, thanks to the efforts by the Business Registration and Licensing Agency (BRELA) to do all registrations online.

BRELA's Assistant Registrar, Mr Seka Kasera said in an interview on the ongoing 38th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) that, "it currently takes only two hours to have full registered business name."

He said the move has helped reducing cost and time wasted to move from different parts of the country seeking to register business names.

"It is a significant milestone reached by the business registration agency to ease the process of having a business name." Bureaucratic and cumbersome procedures in acquiring business names and company registration are among the major problems which contribute high cost of doing business in the country.

It has also been emerging as one of the black spots for Tanzania in the World Bank Doing Business Report that evaluates the ease starting business, permits, registering property and paying taxes.

In some cases, starting a business has to get approval from several government agencies and that the final cost of the required documents has always remained high.

He said currently, the agency was working tirelessly to have the company registration be done online, that will also help to the great extent cut down cost and time.

There were few unsettled matters that are being worked at the ministerial level, which may sooner rather than later be completed.