11 Apr 2018

Parliament has passed to the committee stage the Registration of Business Re-Registration Bill of 2018 and Registration of Business Names Bill of 2018, as presented by Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Ms Bogolo Kenewendo.

Ms Kenewendo said the two bills were part of a broader ecosystem towards implementing the Online Business Registration Systems (OBRS) (OBRS).

She said the bills were related as they dealt with enabling business registration. She also noted that following approval of the recommendations for Doing Business Reform Roadmap, the implementation of the roadmap commenced.

Ms Kenewendo said under the Registration of Business Re-Registration Bill of 2018 there were provisions to re-register existing business names and effects of re-registration as well as outlining powers vested on the minister to make regulations among other clauses.

With regards to Registration of Business Names Bill of 2018, she said the bill seeks to adopt provisions under the Registration of Business Names Act that were similar to those contained in the Companies Act in relation to the application to reservation of names and names of businesses under the new online system.

She said it was meant to enable the record for all business names under the OBRS. The bill, she said, would introduce stream lined and reduced processes which would improve turnaround times for business registration from 12 working days to a day or less, therefore enhancing service delivery.

She also added that the bill would facilitate the development of the OBRS which would help in improving rankings as well as increasing investor confidence.

Commenting on the bills, MP for Gaborone Bonnington South, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe called on government to consider involving unemployed youth in the management of the online platform.

He said young citizens with software programming skills should be given a role in the management of the platform, and that the authorities responsible for tenders should consider young citizens who have the requisites to the rising technology.

Specially elected MP, Mr Kitso Mokaila said the intention was to create an ecosystem that would provide the environment for ministries like that of investment, trade and industry to get online services on stream.

“This is part of the reason why we are bringing the broadband strategy to Parliament. We will reserve this to Batswana as part of creating jobs,” he said.

He said government was working round the clock to put in place the infrastructure needed to ensure necessary standards were set for online e-commerce.

The MP for Tlokweng, Mr Masego Segokgo said he supported the bills, but said most companies were depended on consultants for registration, adding that those that depended on such consultants when registering might still depend on them, hence incurring further costs. Ends