The South African government has launched a one-stop-shop (OSS) for investors with the aim to improve the ease of doing business in South Africa.

Invest South Africa is a division of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and will be focused on increasing foreign and domestic investment in South Africa, as well as the rest of Africa. The service will initially be launched in 3 regions, namely Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, and will be rolled out to the other regions over the next 3 years.

The OSS was specifically established to reduce the bureaucratic red tape investors experience when trying to set up businesses. This is considered essential in order to encourage more investment into South Africa.

Various departments and agencies will be represented at the OSS, including the following: Home Affairs, Labour, Environmental Affairs, Trade and Industry, as well as South African Revenue Services and Eskom. The aim will be that a company should now be registered within a day which is a significant improvement on the previous seven to ten days. Foreign registrations will also be fast tracked.

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies added that the OSS will ensure investors have a “fairly seamless process” of interaction with different agencies, to ensure investments become a reality. “We are going to improve the efficiency of how things are done,” said Davies.

The introduction of the OSS is urgently needed as South Africa is presently ranked 74^th on the World Bank rating in terms of the ease of doing business in the country.