Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA) officers have tipped online business registration system (OBRS) as advantageous over the soon to be phased out manual registration of businesses. 
OBRS that conforms to the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry’s objective of ensuring ease of doing business in Botswana, requires changes to the companies act, registration of business names and introduction of re-registration laws.
Speaking at the stakeholder engagement workshop on November 28, CIPA compliance officer, Mr Kairirirua Murangi detailed the benefits of OBRS both to the customer and the authority itself. 
In his presentation Mr Murangi informed stakeholders that OBRS would reduce costs for customers, reduce operating costs and increases transparency and integrity of register amongst a plethora of advantages attached to the new development which would amend the companies’ act of 1976.
The OBRS project that resulted from an agreement between Ministry of International Affairs and Cooperation and their New Zealand counterparts was forecast to simplify registration process, allows for 24 hour submission of applications as opposed to current arrangement and enabled instant update of proprietor(s) information inter alia.
Mr Murangi pointed out that the project was currently on installation and configuration (the build phase) which was expected to be completed by January 2019. A five phase project had already gone through the understanding phase which was completed in May 2015 and the engagement stage completed in February 2016.
After installation and configuration the project would go into phase four of training, acceptance and development where it was expected to go live in June 3, 2019. Thereafter, stage five of ongoing support.
In the new dispensation all existing companies would be expected to re-register through OBRS. However, Mr Murangi who spoke at length dissecting the new development said that, ‘Re-registration does not create a new entity and does not affect the business, the rights, obligations, contracts  that have been carried by the company or the proprietors of the business name.”
To their advantage, all companies that re-register ‘shall be exempted from filing outstanding annual returns.’
OBRS entails re-registration, information of the beneficial owner and the unique identification number (UIN) that would identify a company from everywhere it has a point of contact, the compliance officer highlighted. He also informed the attendants that CIPA has been identified as the primary point of contact, with Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) and Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) to adopt the UIN and map onto their numbering system.
In her presentation, CIPA registration officer Ms Kamogelo Sebonir said for effective migration of existing companies and business names to OBRS and enabling of new companies and business names to register online an amendment of existing laws was a requirement. 
She said that all existing companies and business names that migrate needed  a legal backing to re-register on the OBRS platform and hence the introduction of registration laws for both companies and business names. 
Such laws, she said, were transitional and time bound. She also said that publication of notices would be extended to other media in addition to the current government gazette for a wider coverage.
Other amendments, Ms Seboni said, were the introduction of mandatory constitution for companies limited by guarantee, introduction of companies’ obligations to file notices of share movements amongst shareholders. 
Under the companies re-registration Act 2018, an existing company that failed to re-register shall be deemed to be de-registered,  hence removed from the register, Ms Seboni said. 
She emphasized that under the companies registration Act 2018 it would be mandatory for existing companies to indicate the beneficial owners to the shares/membership held in a company, even in registration of business names registration it would be mandatory for existing business names to indicate beneficial owners where ownership held was that of a corporate or firm.  ENDS