OPINION

By Mercy K. Kainobwisho

The informal sector has been a central focus of the Government of Uganda and has emerged as a clear priority on the national agenda. Inclusion of the informal sector is key to national development and to economic growth strategy.

It has also strong connections with the poverty reduction agenda. Policies and programmes have since been developed to address the informal economy while adopting measures to promote, recognise, protect and support entities in the informal economy, workers and economic units including micro, small businesses and medium enterprises (MSMEs) who form the bulk of this sector.

Policy priorities have identified the need to link the formal with the informal, recognising skills acquired, and finding new ways to expand skills and entrepreneurship training as well as ease of access to registration services, decentralisation, adoption of experiential activities in localities where the informal sector operates and mass business registration activities nationally to drive formalisation.

The Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) was identified to front lead on most of these initiatives through their mandate and services namely; registration of companies and business names, registration of intellectual property rights, handling insolvency matters, registering marriages and propelling the use of movable property as collateral to access affordable credit through maintenance of the security interest in movable property registry system (SIMPO).

Promoting private sector competitiveness

While it is acknowledged that there are no quick fixes and one-size-fits-all solution, it is also widely accepted that informality represents significant losses and waste for Uganda’s economy as well as for the individuals involved and their families. This financial year, 2023/2024, URSB is implementing a mass business registration strategy with the target to increase number of registered businesses, support sustainability of productivity for formerly informal enterprises, enhance competitiveness and implementing a range of integrated coherent strategies aimed at moving all businesses into the mainstream economy.

Mass business registration campaigns targeting formalisation are essential drivers of economic growth, legal protection, and social inclusion. By simplifying registration processes, raising awareness, and providing support, URSB’s strategy will empower entrepreneurs and small business owners to transition from the informal to the formal sector with ease.

The resulting benefits extend beyond individual businesses, contributing to thriving economies and inclusive societies.

Mindset change and community mobilisation

In all the above avenues towards formalisation, enabling transition to formality is mostly about expanding the capacity and outreach systems of institutions like URSB that are primarily and historically designed to address business registrations, re-thinking or re-inventing the frameworks of operation such as amendments of the law to simplify business registration and changing the culture of outreach to suit the specific needs of the informal economy.

Under the mass business registration strategy, URSB is supporting measures such mass education, information and advocacy campaigns, as part of the deliberate turn-around on formalisation. At an economic level, formalisation contributes to increased tax revenues, improved business environment and reduced informality. It fosters job creation, encourages investment, and stimulates economic development. Formalised businesses are better positioned to attract investments, secure financing, and engage in formal contracts, thereby driving overall economic growth and stability Practical strategies to enable transition

In recent years, efforts have been stepped up in enhancing ease of registration services. URSB with support from the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance in December 2022 unveiled the Online Business Registration System (OBRS) to eliminate the bureaucratic procedures plaguing registration and start-up of businesses.

The absence of convenience, access and ease has been listed as one of the major factors hindering formalisation by depriving business owners access to resources and services as well as undermining the operation of established enterprises. The recent amendment of the Companies and Insolvency Acts have provided a better regulatory environment, to all businesses to be able to formalise quickly, easily and at minimal cost, contract enforcement and corporate rescue support, and taxation realistic.

The mass business registration initiative under the kiri easy, formalise today tag-line will in a four-year period (2023/24 to 2026/27) target accomplishment of a number of strategies among them, establishment of more registration points, deployment of mobile registration clinics across the country, engagement of local governments for community mobilisation and promote household business registration to support family businesses and set up incubation centres to train micro, small and medium enterprises in all aspects of business operations.

The writer is the Registrar General of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau