Business registration made easier with hubs in Regions One, Seven

The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce has established two business registration hubs in Mabaruma and Bartica, to simplify the business registration process in areas which lack commercial registry and sub-offices.

The Mabaruma hub is located in Regional Democratic Council office while the other is stationed in the Bartica Chamber of Commerce building.

Speaking with DPI, Director of the Department of Commerce, Ms. Nicola Namdeo said this approach would provide businessowners with easier access to key Government services in a more convenient manner.

The hubs were established following the signing of an MoU between the Ministry through its Department of Commerce, and the Commercial Registry.

Ms. Namdeo said businessowners can visit the respective offices to submit their applications and pay the requisite fees. With this initiative, the processing time was reduced to one week, in accordance with the MoU.

The MoU for the Mabaruma location was signed on December 29. While the office in Bartica has been established, the signing of the MoU was delayed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Ms. Namdeo expects the signing to be done soon with the lifting of the restrictions for the new year.

More than 30 businesses are expected to benefit from the service in Bartica. Some 22 businesses are awaiting registration upon the signing of the MoU.

In 2017, the then Ministry of Business created hubs in Regions Six, Eight and Nine. To date, 773 businesses have registered, while 186 business have renewed their registrations in the respective regions from 2017-2020.

Despite the pandemic, the hubs have continued to function.  However, there was a 13 per cent decline in the utilisation of the hub for business registration in 2020 compared to 2019. Further, there was a 62 per cent decrease in the number of renewals in 2020 when compared to 2019.