The government of Egypt has been spreading the slogan, “Egypt: Open for business” since the beginning of this century. This has led many investors into the country. The government, also put some measures (to be discussed later) in place, to make business in Egypt easy and profitable. The influx of foreign investors into Egypt has helped in continuously increasing the economic growth of the country.

The transcontinental country, officially known as Arab Republic of Egypt, has borders that cut across the Northeastern part of Africa and Southwest of Asia. Egypt is the third largest African country and the largest country in the middle east. Egypt’s population in 2014 is estimated at 86,502,500. Macroeconomic indicators showed that the real GDP growth of Egypt, which was 2.2% in 2012, and dropped to 2.1 in 2013 and 2014, will increase up to 3.6% by 2015. Also, the real GDP per capita, is estimated to leap from 0.4% in 2014, to 2.1% in 2015. The economy in general is increasing at a consistent 6%, which is good for business.

Some of the vying business sectors in Egypt include, Clothing and textiles, which happens to be the biggest industrial employer, Oil and Gas, which is a major sector of the economy, Agriculture, Cement, Chemical and light consumer goods.

Are you planning to start a business in Egypt? Here a few things you need to know:

Free Trade Zones

In order to bring in more foreign investors, the Egyptian government has been establishing “free zones” for the past few decades. A free zone is a place where most of the goods that are imported do not have import duties.  That means, any  business operating in a free zone in Egypt is exempted from all Egyptian income taxes. The two types of free zones in Egypt are:

Public Free Zones

These zones are located in Alexandria, Port Said, Suez, Nasr city, Media production city (newly established), Ismailia and so on.

Private Free Zones

The private free zones are primarily established by the Egyptian government, for a specific project or company.

The One Stop Shop

The government of Egypt has made business start up in the country easier by putting together a number of registration processes in one access point in 2004. It is known as the General Authority for Free Zones and Investments (GAFI).

There are two steps  involved in the process of registration. They are:

Pre-registration Process

At this stage, you need to notify GAFI that you intend to start a business in Egypt.

You need to obtain a certificate of Non-confusion at the General Authority for Free Zones and Investments. First to check if your company name is legally admissible and to reserve the name. When the business name has been legally certified at the Incorporation department, you can proceed to the Commercial Registry office to obtain the certificate of non-confusion (shahadat adam al-iltibas).

Get a bank certificate from an authorized bank like the Bank of Alexandria branch at GAFI.

Issue power of Attorney to representatives.

Registration Process

After you have done all you need to do at the pre-registration stage, you can then start the registration process by:

Verifying the documents obtained at the pre-registration stage at the department of companies in GAFI.

Obtaining invoices after payment of all registration fees in respect of the documents submitted.

Notarizing documents of the company by registering the Articles of Association at the Investment Notarization department of GAFI.

Obtaining the Certificate of Incorporation after verification of the Article of Association.

Joining the Chamber of Commerce, so that your company can be legally recognized as a corporate entity and you can commence business instead of waiting to start after the usual 15 days.

Registering for Tax and obtaining tax cards at the Tax counter on the first floor of the one stop shop (GAFI).

Registering employees with the National Authority of Social Insurance (NASI).

When you have done all you need to do at the registration stage, you are good to go. It is left to GAFI and NASI to inspect the premises of your business. All of the procedures mentioned above can take up to 15 to 20 days. But you can be sure that you have done all you should do, when you have gotten through all of the bureaucracy and taken all the steps you need to take in starting your business in Egypt.