With extensive research, knowhow and assistance from the right professionals on the ground, setting up a company in a foreign land can be as simple and easy.

In this press release, we are going to look at a few factors with regards to time that foreign entrepreneurs and investors looking to do business in Zambia should familiarize themselves with prior to setting up.

Although the Doing Business 2015 (http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/zambia/) report by World bank indicates that it only takes 6.5 days to complete company formation in Zambia, experts with real time experience setting up foreign entities in Zambia tend to differ.

On paper the company formation procedures may look few, simple and easy given that there are only 5 procedures involved, but in reality the process is cumbersome and even with the right assistance might take between 2 to 3 months to complete.

“While the registration of a Zambia company can be done and 100% owned by foreigners without the need of a local shareholder, there is a requirement for at least one of the two directors to be ordinarily resident in Zambia.” States a report by a leading business consultancy company in Zambia, Healy Consultants.

“As a foreign entrepreneur, to avoid being stuck during incorporation due to this requirement, it is vital to commission the right professional firm that can provide a nominee director to act as the resident director for your company in Zambia.” Concludes the report.

The requirement for foreign entities to consularize their company documents with their local embassies tend to further extend this timeline. Additionally, foreign businesses looking to engage in international trade must obtain a trade license; a license that takes at least 1 month to obtain.

One of the procedures not outlined in the doing business report is the requirement for a Zambia company, especially foreign entities, to open a local corporate bank account at incorporation.

Although relatively small, the Zambian banking and financial system is one of the most liberal in the region and includes some of the top tire banks in the world such as Barclays, Standard Chartered and Citibank.

However opening a bank account in the country, especially for a foreign entity can be taxing and time consuming given the requirement including due diligence and background checks, especially for foreign signatories, to mention but a few.

In conclusion, foreign nationals looking to do business in Zambia ought to note that it is imperative to appoint the right professional firm to assist them with the incorporation process and bank account opening in order to avoid extended timelines and unnecessary wastage of time.

For over a decade, the incorporation experts at Healy Consultants Pte Ltd., with their branch in Lusaka, Zambia, have been assisting investors worldwide to set up the optimum corporate structure for doing business in the country. The services offered include company registration, banking solutions, nominee director services, accounting and tax and legal services and corporate support services.

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Mr. Seth Ochieng