In order for you to access most of if not all government initiatives geared towards estabishing small, medium and large businesses, you need to have registered a company or business name in terms of the Companies Act of Botswana, (Chapter 42:01) in order to do so. This is imperative for instance if you want to do business with any council or government department. In addition to this, the company
or business name that you register must also be registered for Income Tax. Most people tend to just register a company and omit to register for either Tax. They also do not register with the PPADB and only scramble to want to do so when they see a tender being advertised in the Government Gazzette. This is not prudent business practice as often times they are not able to have all of their documentation in place before the tender closes and thus lose out on the many opportunities that the government has provided for Batswana. At Five Eighty Degrees, we pride ourselves in being able to provide a a one stop business formation service for all of the basic requirements which are necessary for the efficient running of any business. The information provided on this page is very basic and we hope that it will be of great assistance to you. Every business in Botswana must have a trading license in order to trade legally. You cannot for instance have a supermarket that does not have a trading license. The need for a trading license is exempted in a few cases where an exemption is obtainable from the relevant council in the district in which you will be operating*. (Details of this are available from our office)
WHY SHOULD I REGISTER FOR PPADB? In order to qualify for any tender be it from local or central government you must be registered with the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board of Botswana. should be registered for Tax as well as Vat where applicable. WHAT IS A SHAREHOLDRS AGREEMENT AND WHY HAVE ONE? The reason we always recommend that a newly established company that has has more than one Shareholder must have a Shareholders Agreement or a Company Constitution is because we have noticed disagreements that often ensue once the company and up and running and has begun to make money. Shareholders then begin to fight over this money and end up in court over things that could have easily been provided for in terms of their Shareholders Agreement or Constitution. We urge you to seriously consider having one in place if your company has more than one Shareholder. The Shareholders Agreement or Constitution will clearly spell out the rights and obligations of the Shareholders that are not necessarily in the Act. WHAT IS A JOINT VENTURE AGREEMENT AND WHY HAVE ONE? Where your company decides to go into “partnership” with another company or individual in order to execute a particular project, a Joint Venture Agreement governing the terms and conditions under which the parties will collaborate on that project will be explicitly stated. Verbal contracts are never safe as they often lead to serious disputes where the agreements between the parties is not documented. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) is a legal document that describes an agreement between two or more parties. It expresses a general understanding between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. Often times it is used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in situations where the parties cannot create a legally enforceable agreement but seek to create instead an understanding that is a more formal to a having a gentlemen’s agreement. WHAT IS A NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT AND WHY HAVE ONE? You might have, in the course of your business dealings have to disclose technical confidential information to another party. This Agreement binds the other party to the effect that he/she shall not use this information for his/her own benefit or disclose it to a third party without your permission. Armed with this basic knowledge, let us now work together to get your business off to a bright start!
