KIGALI - Government plans to cut the time it takes an investor to register a business in the country to two hours. This was revealed to The New Times by the head of the Rwanda Commercial Registration Service Agency (RCRSA), Eraste Kabera during an interview. Kabera said that currently it takes business operators 24 hours to have their businesses fully registered down from the 14 days that were previously required before the establishment of the Remera-based institution. “The government took into account problems in businesses that needed to be addressed and created this institution to ease registration of companies or individual businesses,” Kabera said. Kabera said that it was the government’s intention to drastically reduce the time to two hours ‘like it happens in Singapore, after the institution becomes fully computerized.” “We are encouraging professionalism in business to avoid unfair competition,” Kabera noted adding that the government is cutting red tape to protect investors in the country. Established in May last year, the institution was set up to especially facilitate foreign investors with the will to invest in the country, after it was realized that the old system ‘was too bureaucratic’. According to Kabera, 1437 limited and unlimited liability companies have been registered since the establishment of the unit. He added that over Rwf 85.4billion has been recorded in seven months as initial capital for investment by Unlimited Liability Companies, Kabera however warned that there are some indicators showing un-reflected recorded initial capital on ground. He said that soon his office would carry out viability assessments to ascertain how much initial capital is really on ground and whether it reflects what is recorded in record books. According to RCRSA, some people have been doing business in Rwanda informally registering themselves just to get the certificate of incorporation and business cards which are the main credentials required for government tenders. Ends
