An interview with the Director of the Center for Business Administrative Procedures [Centre des Formalités Admnistratives des Entreprises CFE] to gather more information on business activities in the Republic of Congo. March 27, 2008 – In an interview with the World Bank’s Congo-Brazzaville office, Director of the Center for Business Administrative Procedures Rose Mavoungou, gave an overview of the Center’s history.  | Ms. Rose Mavoungou, Director of the Brazzaville Center.
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The CFE was established in October 1994 and falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Crafts. The goal of the office is to ease the process for business owners in opening small businesses. The CFE is financially autonomous, and is served by a board of directors composed of representatives from the various technical ministries, institutions, and entities involved in the process for establishing a business, as well as a management team supported by advisors, administrative services, and consultants. “The CFE was initially established to try to eliminate the bottlenecks experienced by economic operators,” according to Mavoungou. “It had been observed that these operators were facing many problems. They had to deal with several government agencies to complete the process for establishing a business. The one-stop shops were established in 1995 in a bid to simplify these procedures. In addition to the Brazzaville one-stop shop, there are departmental satellite units in Pointe-Noire, Nkayi, Dolisie, and Ouesso.” Role and Objectives The CFE has many objectives. These include: Observing the business environment and identifying all the complex mechanisms, procedures, and formal requirements that hamper the establishment, modification, or cessation of economic activities, in order to simplify them and reduce the associated delays and costs; Collecting in one location (one-stop shop) in one document, in a single payment, and in under an hour, all declarations pertaining to the establishment, transfer, expansion, modification, and cessation of activities; Obtaining, for the economic operators, prior authorizations for regulated professions and activities; Informing and advising the entrepreneurs/economic operators about the process for establishing a business; Maintaining the files of businesses that have been established, transferred, modified, closed, or have suspended their activities; and Promoting and supporting the establishment of businesses in the Congo.
The CFE also provides advice to economic operators that sometimes do not have a very clear idea of the business activity they wish to conduct. “When you come to the CFE, you can complete the procedures for starting a business, and it is the CFE’s responsibility to send this information to the partner government agencies,” said Mavoungou. The partners include the Registrar of the Commercial Court [Greffe du Tribunal de Commerce], the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture, and Trades (CCIAM), the National Social Security Fund (CNSS), the National Center for Statistics and Economic Studies (CNSEE), the Tax Departmental Directorate, the Labor Departmental Directorate, and the Commerce Departmental Directorate. Innovations Introduced by the CFE The establishment of the CFE has led to the reduction in the time it takes to carry out these procedures and limited the risk of corruption. In the past, dealing with the different government agencies, economic operators were subjected to fee discrepancies depending on the agency. The mission of the CFE is to centralize all operations, thereby reducing delays. For example, a business can be established in five days for those wishing to invest in Brazzaville. “We should as a rule work together with all the partners, namely, the Ministry of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Ministry of Planning, in order to improve this process,” Mavoungou said. Assessment of the Doing Business Report The “Doing Business 2008” Report ranks the Congo 175 out of 178 countries, in terms of ease of doing business. “We at the CFE were somewhat surprised by the Congo’s ranking in this report,” said Mavoungou. “In light of the efforts that we are making, we do not deserve this ranking. However, this process does not only involve the procedures for establishing a business. The specialists may have grouped all the procedures together. Bylaws are also required to set up a business. Foreign investors must have the requisite documents, such as a residency permit, property, and licenses to have property. I believe that these are the documents that they took into account, and the CFE is but one component of the process.”  | | An advisor assisting a client. ©World Bank |
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A number of reforms still must be put in place. Several studies have already been launched. The World Bank’s Transparency and Governance Capacity Building Program (PRCTG) financed the assessment of the one-stop window for investments, which was entitled “One-Stop Shop and Critical Path for Private Investments in the Congo in order to Build the Institutional and Administrative Capacities of the Center for Business Procedures” [Guichet Unique et chemin critique des investissements privés au Congo, en vue du renforcement des capacités institutionnelles et administratives du Centre des formalités des enterprises CFE ]. The first part of the report was validated and an action plan was developed, for which financing is expected. “Reforms are underway. We must institute them,” Mavoungou. “There is also the problem with the tax system, because locals and foreigners alike often complain about the difficulties faced in starting a business in the Congo, owing to the large number of taxes. According to Mavoungou there is room for improvement. “The CFE has already taken a step in that direction,” she said. “We must continue to make progress. An effort must be made, because the political will exists to improve the very low ranking.” Networking with the other administrative agencies remains a major challenge. Economic operators still need to complete the procedures at several locations. For example, the single identification number, which should be issued by the CFE, is a procedure that the economic operator must again complete elsewhere. “The procedures are still being carried out at our center in a mechanical way,” Mavoungou said. “In other words, when we have a single declaration including all the procedures for example, we have to send it to the Chamber of Commerce, the Commercial Court, and so on, while in other countries, even African countries (Benin, for example), procedures are handled in a network with the Commercial Court. This would save considerable time not only for the CFE and other agencies, but also for the economic operators.” According to Mavoungou several government agencies are instituting reforms. “We are all in agreement that the situation needs to be improved,” she said. “Proposals and suggestions have been put forward. Each reform bears a financial cost, and it is our view that financial institutions such as the World Bank and the other international organizations could assist us in this regard.” In the case of investment promotion, there is a need, among other things, to help the Government improve the business climate. Investments go hand in hand with job creation, according to Mavoungou. The Congo, she said, has a very high unemployment rate, and these improvements are crucial. Moving Forward “I would like to focus on support and the activity sectors,” Mavoungou said. “More businesses are being established in the tertiary sector than in the primary and secondary ones, though the latter sectors provide jobs, especially with regard to nationals, who generally complain about the difficulty in gaining access to bank credit. We must focus on this component so that economic operators can find partners to support them in their endeavors.” In the case of foreign investors, the focus, according to Mavoungou, must be on the information and communication component, so that when operators arrive, they can find all the necessary information in place. “Implementing such a project also bears a cost and requires political will,” she said. We at the CFE are aware of what we want to achieve,” Mavoungou said. “We have organized several seminars with our own funds. It is important that we receive support and aid from international organizations.” |
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