Uganda's case study

1. Corporate registries, Collaborations, One
Stop Platform and Service Delivery
Presentation at CRF 2018 Conference
Gaborone International Convention Centre
21st – 25th, May 2018
Gaborone, Botswana
ANDREW BAKIZA, CHAIRMAN DOING BUSINESS, UGANDA
bakiza@ursb.go.ug

2. Facts about Uganda

3. Facts-Uganda
Uganda Country in East Africa
Size 241,038 km²
Capital city Kampala
Population 34, 634,650 million. (2014 National Population &
Housing Census
Currency Ugandan Shilling
Official languages ‎‎English; Swahili

4. Points of Interest in Uganda

5. Mandate;
1. Business Registration– companies and business names,
partnerships, documents, debentures and chattels.
2. Official Receiver in liquidation of companies and bankruptcy
matters.
3. Intellectual Property Rights –registration of Patents, Utility
models, Industrial designs, Trademarks, Service marks and
Copyright and Neighboring Rights.
4. Civil Registration- Conduct marriages, Registration of
Marriages conducted in Uganda and issuance of single status
letters
5. Collect Non Tax Revenue (NTR)

6. Prior to reforms
• Business registration was only
at one location
• Required a lot of movements
to complete a service
• There was no online services
• Process and time to register a
business was unpredictable
(7-31 days)
Administrative bottlenecks

7. Prior to reforms
• Registration was lengthy and
costly and required
assistance of an intermediary
• Registration required a lot of
documentation
• No collaborations with other
agencies e.g. tax authority,
local authorities, banks etc.
Administrative bottlenecks cont…

8. Prior to reforms
• Registration Agency was not
autonomous Hence no control of
funding
• legal framework was outdated
• a). No provision for electronic
filing
• B). Did not incorporate principles
of Corporate Governance
Legal bottlenecks

9. 9
Investor/Business
owner
URSB
(Incorporation)
URA
(Tax Registration)
Ready to start
business
Licensing agency
e.g City/local
authority, NSSF, etc.
(Business license)
Reforms – Collaboration and service
delivery

10. Reforms - One Stop platform and service
delivery
• Focus on service-experience of clients
• Simplify process
• Reduce cost
• Minimize procedures
• Reduce movements
• Process
• What will change and why
• How will the change be accomplished
• Collaboration
• Ins@tu@ons physically and electronically talking
to each other

11. Reforms - Actions Taken
• Streamlined registration procedures
• Established internal electronic systems
(BRS, eDMS) to support electronic
processing of applications and storing
digital records
• Established OSS (One-Stop-Shop) having
all needed services to start a business
• Established min -OSS in 34 municipalities

12. • One point of access for client and data
entry for everybody
• The touch once principle and shared
services (One Stop Platform)
• Better user experience where the whole
procedure of registration is conducted at
a single point
• Automatic data exchange between relevant
Agencies
• Legal reform to facilitate service delivery
e.g. online transactions
Reforms - Actions cont…

13. OSS platform - Uganda
• OSS has a self-service terminal for name
search, check application status and self-
payment assessment.
• OSS has a bank for a client to make the
requisite payments
• OSS hosts a number of stake holders e.g.
URSB, URA, KCCA, MoLG, NIRA, Lands,
Posta, UFZ, etc…

14. OSS platform - Uganda

15. OSS platform - Uganda, self service
terminal

16. Reforms - Achievements
• Streamlined business registration process
• Single registration form that consolidates all the
information to be collected
• No duplication of information required by different agencies
which makes process cost effective and faster
• Ability to incorporate companies, register for tax and get
all requisite licences under one roof in 1 day
• Mini-OSS brought registration services nearer to the people
in their communities
• No need of intermediaries

17. Reforms - Achievements cont…
• Promoted partnership through collaborating institutions
• Improved exchange of data across agencies
• Increased registration, on average 200 companies per
week
• Improved collection of taxes, registration fees, etc..
• Increased effectiveness of stakeholder agencies and
improving service delivery to the business community
• Online facilities to access registration and licensing services
• Robust data collected which is used for planning to
promote economic development

18. Reforms - Challenges
• Change Management
• Lack of common standards of service
within multiple agencies (processes,
systems, people)
• Challenge of electronic integration with
multiple agencies
• Lengthy process of amending laws
• Lack of stake holder buy-in
• Inadequate funding for the reforms

19. Way-Forward (Planned)
• Adopt usage of the “Unique Business
Identifier” across all agencies to identify a
business
• Use of electronic signatures to eliminate
physical movement of documents
• Electronic payment for business
registration to support online application
• Full online application for registration
• Business e-licensing system
• Formalization of “agents”

20. THANK YOU