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Nigel Chanakira

Brighton Gumbo Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) has adopted a digital option for registering new companies as part of measures to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country.

ZIA chairman Nigel Chanakira yesterday said the authority has already agreed on using the System Applications Products (SAP) software services for companies’ registration process.

He said the SAP software would be provided by Portnet Software, a provider of SAP services to the government and the private sector locally and across Africa.

The government recently acquired 51 percent shares in Portnet through its wholly owned state enterprise and Internet service provider, Zarnet.

“We expect to announce our shift from the manual process of registering companies to digital on the 21st of December this year,” Chanakira said.

“This will enable a favourable way of doing business in the country as it’s time saving, effective and resourceful.”

Chanakira said the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) and the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef) were still finalising on which system to use.

“The last time we checked with NSSA and Zimdef, they were still deciding on which system to use and so far we’re not informed on the progress of their decision making,” he added.

However, Chanakira said the main concern was with the registrar of companies.

“The main worry is with the registrar of companies because a lot of companies are still archived in the old records. So registering them online would require a lot of work,” he said.

Chanakira said once the digital process is launched, most of the services offered by the registrar of companies will be carried online at the comfort of the applicants.

He said given the growth in technological solutions, many businesses have embraced the new approach by taking their businesses online.

The move is expected to provide relief to Zimbabweans who have had to endure the long waiting process before getting their business fully registered.

The initial company registration process was a nightmare to business persons as it was time consuming and required a lot of processes.

Meanwhile, Chanakira said the final review of the 100-day investment approval process was expected to be conducted on the same day.