A new online business registration and information portal has been launched in South Africa. Named BizPortal, the service has been launched by a South African government agency known as the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) in partnership with the top banks in the country along with the South African Revenue Service.

Added to allowing for online business registrations and simultaneously the opening of a bank account, the portal gives users an option to register a .co.za domain for their business.

“The portal is a pioneering and innovative project for government e-services. It will improve the time and ease for young people to start new enterprises. From a customers’ perspective, there is no need to visit multiple government institutions, saving them time and money. Such seamless registration services will enable entrepreneurs to focus on transforming innovative ideas into beneficial products and services, which will contribute to the creation of jobs in our country,” said Ebrahim Patel, South Africa's Minister of Trade and Industry when launching the portal.

Screenshot of the BizPortal website.

What is interesting and welcome is that BizPortal is said to reduce busines registration from a turnaround period of approximately 40 days, as previously recorded by the World Bank in its ‘2020 Ease of Doing Business’ report, to a single day.

Another welcome improvement is that people won't need to anymore visit different government agencies to complete the different registrations required for a business in South Africa. Through collaboration with the South African Revenue Services, the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund, CIPC made it possible for applicants of private companies to register the company, get a tax number, register the domain name, get a B-BBEE Certificate, register with the Compensation Fund and Unemployment Insurance Fund, and open a business bank account.

“CIPC strives to improve service delivery to businesses and is proud to launch Biz Portal (It) will significantly reduce the time to register a business," said Advocate Rory Voller, commissioner at the CIPC.