A preliminary assessment done by the Doing Business Unit in Rwanda Development Board (RDB) on the impact of the new company law has indicated a sharp increase in companies being registered.

The assessment which was a result of a monthly follow up since the company law was enacted late April shows that companies registered in the following months doubled.

By the end of April this year only 96 companies had been registered, by May 184, and 343 in June.

But statistics also show that before the legal reforms the number of companies registered never changed much.

In January this year 111 companies were registered followed 110 in February and 111 in March.

This follows World Bank’s Doing Business report ranked Rwanda as best reformer globally, courtesy of the new legislation that removed different barriers to registering a business in Rwanda.

Starting a business was one of the indicators that greatly contributed to Rwanda’s performance placing it at the 11th position in this category and 67th overall in 183 countries.

Frank Twagira the Head of Doing Business Unit in RDB said that the revision of the law was necessary because the previous law was outdated.

"The previous law was of 1988 and ideally, it was not compatible with the modern company as it stands. For example with the old law a person could not register a company as individual,” he said.

He added that the revised law saves time and consequently money.

"Before you had to go to the notary, get a lawyer whom you had to pay to structure the articles of the association and then wait for weeks to get the company registration complete,” he said.

Twagira said that the statistics on company registration include both external and local investors.

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