PACRA and OBFC in a Study Visit Workshop Workshop

Maseru, Lesotho – September,04 2015: The Ministry of Trade and Industry, through the department of One Stop Business Facilitation Centre has hosted for the third time, a study visit by a delegation from Zambia on 01 – 04 September, 2015.

The visitors comprising 10 officers are employees of Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) in Zambia. Their purpose of the study visit was to learn about OBFC concept, especially the latest business reforms that were undertaken by the department. Explaining the purpose of the visit, Mr. Lameck Mwenya, acting senior inspector said they wanted to know how OBFC had achieved the paperless service delivery in the registration of companies and the challenges involved.

In response to the visitors quest, OBFC presented a series of its suit of services which include company registration, issuing of Traders and Manufacturing licenses, Imports and Export visas, Tariff investigations, OBFC establishment, Work and residents permit, IT infrastructure and Trade remedies, to just mention some of them. PACRA also gave a brief presentation about its services, which seemed similar apart from that its One Stop Shop (OSS) does not issue licenses, imports and Exports are the responsibility of other ministries, and it has nothing to do with work and resident permits, though the business services are interlinked.

OBFC further explained that the online registration initiative was implemented in a period of one year as compared to other countries which took five years to put it into practice. The transition from manual to the automated system involved changing the Companies Act of 1967, data migration, IT infrastructure,review of staff responsibilities and office layout, just to mention a few.During the four days schedule of discussion, an informative and engaging dialogue between the two peer institutions provided an opportunity to discover more about each other’s strengths and weaknesses in the delivery of services. They both got new ideas and solutions for improvement of the current status in the delivery of services, even when implementing the online registration.

Although PACRA was the main beneficiary of the study visit, the host (OBFC) also benefitted from the exchange of experiences which will help it to improve. OBFC learned that Zambia has a Client Service Charter, which stipulates clearly PACRA’s commitment in the delivery of services. They also responded to queries through a call centre that has 4 lines and has been supplied by different mobile telephone service providers. “The call centre language is English as an official language and seven other local languages, while also the manager is responsible for Face book page and Twitter.” Said the Officers. Moreover, PACRA is engaged in a mobile company registration in the ten districts of Zambia which is focusing mainly to youth.

Lately OBFC has seen frequent study visits by companies from SADC region, which are attracted mostly by the newly introduced and rare business reforms In Africa; such as online company registration launched in December 2014 and the Information trade portal too. In March and July 2015 two Botswana institutions; namely Botswana Investment and Trade Centre, and Intellectual Property Authority of Botswana consecutively had visited the OBFC.

Contact:
‘Malempe Mokoma :( Communication and Advocacy Officer) OBFC
Email: djama40@yahoo.com
Cel: 266-57527270
Tel: 266-22326647

Company Statistics

Total Companies in Lesotho:

32, 671  (as of Mar. 2018)

Active Companies to date:

15,949  (as of Mar. 2018)

Top 10 Industries: