IBC SWAZILAND - Starting Business in Mauritius 29052012

7/31/2019 IBC SWAZILAND - Starting Business in Mauritius 29052012

1/22

Heerun GhurburrunSenior Expert ARCA Consortium

[email protected]

Mauritius no. 2 in Africa on Ease of Starting a BusinessStart your business in 3 days

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Royal Swazi, Swaziland
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


2/22

MauritiusStarting a Business Ranking

Improving the Business Climate in Swaziland - Session 2: Mauritius, Start your business in 3 days -29/05/2012 2


3/22


4/22

Starting a Business

Two main phases in starting a business

Phase 1 Company incorporation Creating and registering the legal entity

for the business

Phase 2 Getting ready before start of business activities and operations

Renting (or acquiring), furnishing & equipping office premises

Recruitment of personnel

Registration with various authorities (tax, customs, VAT, localauthority, social security, etc)

Obtention of any necessary operating licenses or permitsdepending on the business activity



5/22

2 steps to incoporate your company 3 steps to start your business operations



6/22

Starting a Business in MauritiusLegal Framework

Companies Act

Business Registration Act

Insolvency Act

Limited Partnership Act

Business Facilitation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act



7/22

46 days to start a business in Mauritius in 2007


8/22

The obstacle race to start abusiness in Mauritius before 2006

Company name reservation Mandatory to reserve proposed company name

Send a request in writing to the Registrar of Companies to check

availability of proposed company name

At least 15 days before obtaining a reply and confirmation ofcompany name reservation

Company Constitution Need to prepare and submit the proposed companys

constitution (rights, powers, duties and obligations of thecompany, the Board, the Directors, )

The Constitution must be prepared and vetted by an Attorney

Can take 15 days to 1 month to get the constitution



9/22

The obstacle race cont Application for Company Incorporation

Manual submission of application forms for the incorporation of acompany

Certificate of Incorporation delivered after 15 days

Registration with other Authorities Manual registration with the necessary autorities individually,

with the applicant moving physically from one institution to

another

Income Tax department

Customs department

VAT department

Social security department

Each insitution has its own specific identification number for the

company



10/22

Operating licences and permits Application for a Trade Licence at the local authorities: no business

can operate without the obtention of a Trade Licence

Prior to the obtention of a Trade Licence, need to obtain:

Fire services clearance (Fire Services Dept) Health Sanitary clearance (Health Dept)

Utilities clearances (electricty, water, telcoms)

Traffic management clearance (in case of public parking)

Environmental clearance (in case of impact on environment)

Development and Building Permits (in case of modification to office premises)

A process which could take between 2 months to 2 years


The obstacle race cont


11/22

Impact on the Mauritian economy

Too complicated (long and costly) to incorporate a

company and to start business activities

Entrepreneurs and SMEs not encouraged and notmotivated to set up formal and legally registeredcompanies

Informal economy quite high and signficant

Jobs not declared

Loss of revenue for government (tax collection)

Adverse impact on the overall competitiveness ofthe economy



12/22

From 46 days to 3 days to start a business in

Mauritius


13/22

A Paradigm Shift


Company name reservation

No longer mandatory

Setting up an online electronic Central Business Registration

Database (CBRD)

Existing companies names can be consulted online from your home

Company Constitution No longer mandatory

Companies may or may not have a constitution. If no constitution,

then provisions of the Companies Act apply

No requirement for minimum capital for company incorporation

Allowance for setting up a one-person company

For small private companies, no requirement to have a qualifiedsecretary or auditor and no need to file annual audited accounts


14/22

Bringing efficiency & performance for all

Application for company incorporation

Can be made online through an electronic system

Registration with other authorities

Introduction of a unique single Business Registration

Number (BRN) BRN is allocated to the company at time of

incorporation

BRN is then electronically transferred to all other

relevant authorities No need for the applicant to move from one institution

to another (concept of moving data, not people )



15/22

Company Incorporation made easy


New companyIndividual

Single pointof entry

Unique BusinessRegistration Number

Central Business RegistrationDatabase (CBRD)

Local Government Mauritius Revenue Authority Board of Investment Small and Medium Enterprises and

Handicraft Authority Ministry of Social Security

Register at Registrar of

Companies (on line)

Moving Data Not People

Data accessed by relevantpublic agencies


16/22

Trade licence issued by local authorities prior to start of

business abolished Replaced by a simple fee to be paid within 15 days of start

of business activities

Classfication of all business activities under 4 categories

only: commercial, services, industrial & sui generis Introduction of the concept of ex Post Control

Companies in non-regulated activities may start business

immediately

Inspections (fire, health, utilities) are carried out after start of

business operations hence post control

Companies are required to self-comply to guidelines published by

the various authorities

More severe legal penalties for non compliance



17/22

Start business in 3 days

If the business activity: Is not a regulated activity

Has no adverse impact on the environment and does

not warrant for an environmental clearance

Does not involve land development Does not involve construction works

Is carried out in an existing building meant for such

activities

Then, START BUSINESS WITHIN 3 DAYS

Based on self-adherence to published guidelines



18/22

Significant Impact of the reform of Starting a Business in Mauritius

In less than 5 months after the implementation of thismajor reform, over 10 000 new companies were registeredat the Registrar of Companies

After analysis, it was understood that this significantincrease was due to a large number of businesses operatingin the informal economy having decided to get into the official mainstream economy

Why: simpler, easier, faster, more cost-effective and accessto more professional services for business expansion

Increase in revenue collected by Government in 2008



19/22

Lesson learned From the Mauritius case study, the lesson learned is that:

For a reform in Starting a Business to be successful

and make a significant impact, there cannot be half-

baked or shy measures;

The reform should be bold, in-depth, innovative and

foward-looking;

Being the point of entry to initiate a business venture,

this reform impacts people directly at all levels from

small entrepreneurs to multinationals; If this reform is successful, it shall bring confidence,

trust and adherence to the other business climate

reforms



20/22


DB 2012 Rwanda Mauritius Swaziland Sub-SaharanAfrica

OECD

Ease of Starting a

Business Rank

8 15 161 123(Regional avg)

Procedures (number) 2 5 12 8 5

Time (days) 3 6 56 37 12

Cost

(% of income per capita)

4.7 3.6 29.2 81.2 4.7

Paid-in Min. Capital

(% of income per capita)

0.0 0.0 0.5 129.8 14.1


21/22



22/22

Heerun Ghurburrun

[email protected]

Mauritius no. 2 in Africa on Ease of Starting a BusinessStart your business in 3 days
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

Date post:	05-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	eregulations
View:	217 times
Download:	0 times

IBC SWAZILAND - Starting Business in Mauritius 29052012

Documents