The Office of the Registrar of Companies’ (ORC) recent efforts to expand business formalisation through nationwide registration clinics and strategic partnerships should be matched with an equally ambitious effort to modernise the country’s business registration system.
While recent engagements with the Vice President, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, and the decision to establish ORC service desks at selected Universal Merchant Bank branches indicate a stronger commitment to improving access to services, entrepreneurs continue to face significant challenges in registering businesses, underscoring the need to address administrative bottlenecks and streamline registration processes to better support the government’s private sector development agenda.
Business registration is the gateway to the formal economy. It enables enterprises to access financing, compete for contracts, comply with tax obligations and build credibility with customers and investors. However, for many entrepreneurs, the process remains more complicated than it should be.
The ORC has acknowledged the need to improve the efficiency of business registration and, in a statement dated March 28, 2025, indicated that it was working with the World Bank to reduce the timeline for completing registrations from the existing average of 10 working days.
The Office also identified the introduction of an Electronic Business Registration System (e-register) as one of its key initiatives for 2025, targeted at improving service delivery and reducing physical interactions. However, the planned e-register rollout was not implemented within the stated period, highlighting the gap between reform commitments and execution.
The challenge is therefore no longer whether services should be digital. The priority is ensuring that digital services are fully functional, responsive and reliable.
A digital registration platform that frequently experiences downtime, requires manual intervention or still compels applicants to visit physical offices defeats the purpose of digital transformation. Entrepreneurs should be able to complete the entire registration process, from name search and document submission to payment and certificate issuance, through a seamless online system.
This has become even more important as Ghana accelerates digital public service delivery across government institutions. Several public agencies have expanded online platforms to reduce processing times, improve transparency and enhance convenience for citizens and businesses. The ORC must remain aligned with this broader national digitalisation agenda.
Equally concerning is the growing dependence on informal intermediaries who claim to facilitate business registration. Many entrepreneurs believe that engaging these unofficial agents offers a faster route to obtaining registration documents than navigating official channels.
The continued presence of these middlemen, often referred to as “goro boys”, raises concerns about transparency, increases the cost of starting a business and undermines confidence in the registration system. Recognising the problem, Attorney-General Dr. Dominic Ayine recently identified the elimination of such intermediaries as a key reform priority while also pointing to technology limitations, verification gaps and staffing constraints affecting service delivery.
When entrepreneurs perceive official procedures as inefficient while informal channels offer faster alternatives, it risks undermining institutional credibility, weakening trust in the system and discouraging voluntary compliance.
For many small businesses, particularly start-ups with limited capital, every additional day spent navigating administrative processes represents lost business opportunities and additional operating costs.
Simplifying business registration is not merely an administrative exercise. International evidence suggests that reducing the cost and complexity of starting businesses can improve private investment and support broader economic growth.
The government’s continued focus on private sector development, business formalisation and job creation presents the ORC with an opportunity to make business registration faster, simpler and more transparent. A registration system that is genuinely digital, efficient and accessible would remove unnecessary barriers to entrepreneurship while strengthening confidence in one of Ghana’s most important business institutions.
