Time To Issue Business License To Be Reduced To 3 Days, Tanzania Investment Centre Says

The Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) has recently announced that the process time to issue business licenses in the country will be reduced by 75% from the current 12 days to 3 days in the short term to boost investments by improving service delivery and removing unnecessary barriers that constrain projects’ development.

The reduction in time will be the result of an improved Tanzania Investment Window (TIW), which is part of the project’s phase II that follows the phase I launched in 2014 of an electronic single window to help investors to apply for the required registrations to start a company in the country.

The announcement was done by TIC Executive Director, Mrs. Julieth Kairuki, whom during the 5^th Forum of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) recently held in Dar es Salaam, explained that the new system will not only benefit both local and foreign investors but also improve Tanzania’s business environment and competitiveness.

Currently, the issue of license and other registrations is complicate and it takes a long time for investors to have a lawfully company in Tanzania and the new system definitively represents a new and innovative approach for the delivery of such services, Mrs. Kairuki added.

TIW Phase I was launched with the support of the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF) for a total investment of USD 350,000 provided by the United Nations (UN).

The Phase II signed in March, 2015, represented a total investment of USD 600,000 and it is meant to consolidate, expand and promote the current TIW to increase both local and foreign investments in the country.

According to TIC, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Tanzania are growing steadily and keeping an upward trend despite the global slowdown experienced in recent years.

Global FDI inflows fell by 16% to USD 1.2 trillion in 2014, while Tanzania reached a new peak of USD 2.14 billion in the same year up from USD 2.13 billion in 2013.