One-person run businesses like retail shops and farms now have the opportunity of getting registered as companies instead of being sole proprietorships.
The new development is among a few reforms by the government to ease doing business in the country. This opportunity is also catered for in the Companies Act, passed by parliament in March 2002, which allows a one-person business to get registered as a company.
Before the passing of the Act, it was not possible for a single person to register a company. A minimum of three shareholders was required for any company to get registered.
According to Dr Peter Ngategize, who heads the Competitiveness and Investment Climate Strategy (CICS), a unit in the Finance Ministry in charge of easing doing business, the new opportunity is expected to attract more informal businesses to get formalized.
The biggest number of businesses in Uganda is informal and successful yet they are not easily regulated by government. This makes it difficult for government to have realistic control of the economy let alone losing much needed revenue.
Uganda is considered one of the leading countries in the world in small businesses but most of them are informal and outside government’s radar.
Anna Nambooze, the CICS legal officer, said one-person business owners are encouraged to take advantage of the Act to formalize and boost their businesses.
One benefit of a formal business is the capacity to easily access credit from financial institutions.
