Online company registration rolls out soon, says govt

Malawi Government says online registration of businesses as part of reforms to improve the ease and reduce the cost of doing business, will soon be put into action.

Ministry of Industry and Trade spokesperson Wiskes Nkombezi confirmed the development in an interview last week, saying the automation is in its final stages as such the system will go live before the end of this financial year.

“All is set for the development. However the only thing delaying the development is that government has not yet implemented the online business registration because the automated business registry at the office of the Registrar General is not yet fully functional.

“Once the law is implemented, the cost of registering a business will drastically go down thereby reducing the cost of doing business in Malawi,” he said.

Nkombezi said with the online mechanism of company registration, investors will be able to apply for a business name in the comfort of their office, home and internet cafe and the registrar’s office will receive it and process the application much faster.

“One will not have to spend more money travelling to Blantyre to register a business. Business people used to travel long distances to Blantyre to have their businesses registered.

“This will no longer be the case as there will be this option of applying for business registration online,” he said.

Nkombezi says government will continue carrying out various reforms in business and economic laws and policies to improve the business environment in the country.

Malawi has been slumping on the World Bank ease of doing business index largely due to lacklustre performance in business reforms.