PORT LOUIS, January 15, 2010—Small is beautiful, and business-friendly to boot. That description best fits Rwanda and Liberia, who this year attained the coveted title of “World’s Top Ten Reformers in Ease of Doing Business.” Both countries proved that in the bid to build business regulations that open opportunities for small and medium enterprises to grow and create jobs, size should not matter and small countries can play in the big leagues and score top honors.
This week, at a Doing Business in 2010 Africa conference in Mauritius, ranked 17 out of 183 countries in the global “Doing Business” rankings, 14 African countries, and Singapore, came together to share their experiences in enacting business-friendly reforms, gleaning lessons from successes and failures, and jointly exploring strategies for successfully implementing reforms and tracking their impact.
“We focused our reforms on putting an end to suffocating bureaucracies and office-hopping for obtaining licenses, permits, and approvals,” said Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Honorable Prime Minister of Mauritius, while inaugurating the conference. “We set out solutions that allow enterprises to start operations on the basis of self-adherence to clear, comprehensive guidelines rather than long and complicated authorizations.”
Some surprising experiences emerged from the conference:
- Liberia, rising from a brutal civil war, cut business start-up time from 99 to 22 days, and sharply reduced time for construction permits from 398 to 77 days in one year;
- Mauritius, overcoming the limitations of geography as an island state, successfully put in place reforms that enabled it to become number one in Africa for ease of paying tax and raising tax revenues in the process;
- Rwanda’s remarkable ascent in the “Doing Business” rankings was the result of a multi-year program of legislation and administrative reform, and
- Singapore’s legendary use of information and communications’ technology (ICT) to leverage business reforms enabled TradeNet to reduce permit processing times from 2-7 days to one minute or less, and reduced paperwork from three to 35 documents to one e-form.
In addition to these gains, participants commented that “Doing Business” reforms also helped to open up broader reform programs.
“The benefits from undertaking business-friendly reforms were immediate and generated positive ripples throughout the economy,” said Clare Akamanzi, Deputy CEO of Rwanda Development Board, speaking about her country’s experiences. “Thanks to the combined efforts of various parts of government, the number of sole proprietorships rose from 841 in 2008 to 2,780 in 2009, and from 735 companies in 2008 to over 3,028 companies in 2009.”
The conference, a “South-South” peer-to-peer knowledge exchange and learning program, featured an innovative format of plenary and brainstorming sessions, “How To” diagnostic clinics, and site visits. It brought together a seamless team of World Bank and IFC private sector development specialists, including from the Investment Climate Advisory and the “Doing Business” teams, and country management unit staff. For a practical view of how business-friendly reforms play out in the various arms of government, participants had the opportunity to visit Mauritius’ Registrar General, Credit Information Bureau, Registrar of Companies, and the port of Port Louis and Customs Office, all of which are entry points for business investments.
“Knowledge is an endless frontier,” said Penelope Brook, World Bank Director for Global Indicators and Analysis and Head of the “Doing Business” team. “Our clients are demanding new and innovative assistance for strengthening their capacity for reforms. Events like this one provide a wonderful opportunity to share experience not only on what to reform, but how, and not only on what went well, but also what didn’t work.”
It is a measure of the importance African countries are increasingly attaching to business reforms, that seven delegations were led by Ministers having responsibility for the “Doing Business” portfolio. The event was also an important opportunity for the World Bank Group to learn from partner countries about how better to assist their reform processes.
“We were very pleased to co-host the conference jointly with the Government of Mauritius,” said Constantine Chikosi, World Bank Senior Private Sector Development Specialist and conference convener based in Port Louis. “Mauritius has long been a top reformer and many African countries on the mainland stand to benefit from viewing first-hand the island’s solid track record in promoting business-friendly reforms. The conference also offered us an opportunity to present the service offerings of the different parts of the World Bank Group as a cohesive whole to our clients.”
