Registration companies urged to embrace technology amidst Covid-19

Entities charged with registering companies have been urged to embrace new technologies to make their work easy.

The call was made by John Bosco Suuza, the director Legal Advisory Services at the Uganda Registration Services Bureau during the 16th Corporate Registrars Forum.

Suuza said corporate registries need to generate reforms as much as they can.

"Uganda as a country also needs to grow its technology and leapfrog along with it as companies and registries embrace the new normal," he said.

He appreciated the role played by corporate registries in formalising the economies world over.

Given the current Covid-19 pandemic the conference was held virtually with over 250 participants from member states from Africa, Asia, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Europe.

The three day conference ends on November 11th, 2021.

The Deputy Registrar General, Alex Anganya reiterated that URSB had embraced electronic transactions as the new normal.

"Today, we have achieved over 70% adoption of e-services, right from about 30% prior to the pandemic. This is line with the URSB's All digital All online strategy that is currently being implemented to limit physical interactions and have all services online," he said.

The Malaysian Registry shared experience about free business registration for vulnerable persons which witnessed an increase in business formalisation as a result of the intervention.

The registry also exempted fines for non-compliant companies for a period of time. On the other hand, the Singapore Registry leveraged on technology to provide seamless registration services as well as establishing a startup guide and providing e-advisors to literally walk people through the registration process.

The Corporate Registers Forum is an association that brings together business registries across the world.