Martin Endjala
The Business Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) has recorded an overall decline of business registration by 7.3 percent compared to the 2021 calendar year.
According to BIPA Chief Executive Officer Vivienne Katjiuongua, BIPA recorded a total 12 666 registrations on its business register for the period of January to December 2022, of which 11 130 are Close Corporations (CC’s) and 1 153 are Companies. She says 318 registrations were for Section 21 Companies (Associations Not For Gain), 49 were defensive names and 16 were foreign companies.
This number Katjiuongua said, shows a decline by 7.3 percent from the same period during 2021 , when BIPA recorded a total of 13 594 registrations.
“Although BIPA observed a decline of nine percent in the registration of CC’s during 2022, compared to 2021 , BIPA saw an increase in the number of companies registered by 12 percent compared to the previous year.” says Katjiuongua.
She further pointed out that from the 12 000 business entities that were registered, BIPA also recorded a total of 869 deregistrations for 2022, 613 of which were CC’s and 256 companies.
She said that a total of five companies were recorded under liquidation during the same period.
Katjiuongua noted that the number of registrations fluctuate year-on-year, depending on the socio-economic climate in Namibia and the appetite for investment in the country.
“Should the investment climate and economic activities improve, especially in the domestic market, we may see an uptake in new business registrations for the ensuing year,” she added.
Meanwhile, on the foreign ownership of businesses for the year 2022, BIPA records show that 2 698 foreign nationals were recorded as either members, directors or shareholders in newly registered businesses.
Countries which topped the list of foreign business ownership in Namibia last year were South Africa, recording 698 individuals registered as business owners, followed by Zimbabwe with 630, China with 239 and Nigeria with 104.
During the previous year (2021), foreign ownership at the amount of 970 individuals registered as business owners.
Considering the number of newly registered entities in Namibia for the period under review, the CEO reiterated that BIPA remains a critical player and an enabler for economic growth and development.
BIPA further recorded a total of 43 938 individuals as new business owners, of which 27 000 are male and 17 000 are female. Considering the total number of new business owners, 2 698 were foreign nationals which constitutes six percent of the overall number. For the period under review, BIPA received a total of 778 trademark applications.
BIPA also registered 1 478 trademarks, thereby granting exclusive rights to the rights owners for a period of 10-years.
