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business registration checklist

Tanzanian Nationals


Foreign Nationals

  • Online business application documents;
  • International Passport;
  • Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with information on shareholders, capital, objectives, dividends and company Directors;
  • Tax Identification Number (TIN);
  • Copy of company’s establishment;
  • List of Company Directors;
  • List of Company representatives in the country;
  • Proof that the company exists - for a company already established outside; and
  • Physical address of the company and the applicant, email address and telephone number.

Contacts

Business Registration and Licensing Agency (BRELA)
P.O Box 9393
Ushirika Mnazi Mmoja
Dar es Salaam
Tel: +255 (0) 22 2181344
Email: maoni@brela.go.tz
www.brela.go.tz
 

Zanzibar Business and Property Registration Agency
2nd Floor | Sheria House
Mazizini, Zanzibar
Tel: +255 24 2236324
Fax: +255 24 2236325
E-mail: info@bpra.go.tz
www.bpra.go.tz

 

How to register a business in Tanzania

Business registration is the process of obtaining legal permission to conduct business of one’s area of choice. 

Business registration in Tanzania (mainland) is controlled by Business Registration and Licensing Agency (BRELA), which operates under the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

In Zanzibar business registration in regulated by    Zanzibar Business and Property Registration Agency (ZBPRA) which operates under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Marketing.
 

Business registration applications in Tanzania can only be submitted online through the BRELA   and ZBPRA portals, for Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar respectively

The business registration process takes between 7 – 14 working days.

 

What kind of business should be registered?

 

  • A Business Company: a voluntary association formed and organized to carry on a business with a minimum number of 2-50 persons. Types of companies include sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability, corporation, and public limited company.

  • An Industry: is a manufacturing or technically productive enterprise in a particular field, which is often named after its principal product; for example, the auto industry.

 

Companies Act of 2012 CAP 12 (Tanzania mainland) and the Zanzibar Company Act 2013 state that the following types of companies must be registered to be able to operate in Tanzania. These companies are:

  1. Private companies
  2. Public companies
  3. Limited Liability companies
  4. Foreign companies (branches of companies incorporated out of Tanzania mainland and/or Zanzibar)
  5. Unlimited companies
angle-left Organizations supporting women to register businesses

Organizations supporting women to register businesses

 

 

 

Other services provided by BRELA and ZBPRA


In addition to business registration, BRELA and ZBPRA provide the following services:

  • Business Name availability search;
  • Trademark registration;
  • Industrial License provision;
  • Patenting services;
  • Provision of business License Group A (Business with International aspects) i.e. companies incorporated outside Tanzania mainland and they come in the country as branches of such foreign companies even if all subscribers and or shareholders are nationals of the United Republic of Tanzania; and
  • Registration of NGOs and Cooperatives (Zanzibar only, while in mainland Tanzania NGO’s are registered under the Ministry of Health, Gender Department).

 

Events organised beneficial to women in business
 

  • BRELA showcase their activities and services during Saba-Saba International Trade Fairs each July in Dar es Salaam;

  • Mapinduzi Trade Fair each January in Zanzibar by Ministry of Trade;
  • ‘’Women and Entrepreneurship’’ exhibitions by Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO)
  • Jua Kali Exhibitionby Ministry of Labour, Empowerment, Elderly, Women and Children

 

 

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