Commercial Law Firms in Zimbabwe are increasingly mandated to advise on the procedures which must be followed in-order to set up a company in Zimbabwe.

In terms of the Companies Act Chapter 24:08, the Chief Registrar of Companies, is responsible for the Registration of Companies and is the primary custodian of records pertaining to all companies that are lawfully set up within Zimbabwe.

While the procedure for company registration is not chronologically outlined in the Companies Act, the Companies Registry follows a fairly simple and defined procedure namely:

Step 1 – Name Reservation

To avoid a situation were two or more companies are registered under an identical name, the Companies Act requires a prospective company owner to apply for a name reservation. The application requires the applicant to provide 4 prospective company names in order of preference. Through a process which on average takes 3-5 days, a company name will be approved from the 4 options and the applicant is required to lodge company documents within 30 days of such approval. The name reservation attracts a fee of $5.00 and an additional $5.00 is payable as a penalty, in the event of a failure to lodge company documents within the prescribed 30-day period.

Step 2 – Incorporation and Registration

The required company documents include the Memorandum and Articles of Association, Form C.R.14 and Form C.R.6. The Form C.R.14 is a standard template document which is populated by information pertaining to the directors of the company and company secretary. This includes, their full names, national identity numbers, dates of birth, nationalities and respective physical addresses. The Form C.R.6 primarily outlines the physical address of the company and the Memorandum and Articles of Association will set out, in great detail the main objects and business of the company. The registration process attracts a fee of $140.00 and it takes an average of between 3-5 for the Registrar to issue a Certificate of Incorporation.