I am a very ambitious, self driven individual that believes that the level of development of any country depends on (or is reflected by) the input of its people in the development process. If people sit back and wait for others to do things then 'the development bus will drive past and leave them in the dust'. If the people of Swaziland get up and create job opportunities for themselves and fellow Swazis, that will go a long way into making Swaziland the country it should be striving to be. Swazis need to stop waiting for others to do things but look at themselves and ask What can I do to develop myself and the community I live in? One of the answers to this question is promoting self employment amongst the Swazi people.

How do we create these self employment opportunities? By starting up companies that will provide high quality services and products that are geared towards improving the stantard of living of people in Swaziland. It is well documented that starting a business in Swaziland is not easy. The costs, lack of information, transparency and beauraucracy is very discouraging; even though some companies get registered and are fully operational (with trading licenses) within a fortnight. There are too many steps and to many departments (scattered across town) to visit and there are no clear timeframes and no clear explaination of the steps involved.

It is like a black box where you put in something into a 'box' and out comes an output and you are clueless of what happened in-between. I remember being involved in a company registration process that lasted well over 6 months because of all sorts of issues...this was very frustrating to say the least.

From what I have learnt, the following are the major steps in legally registering a company in Swaziland:

1. Registering the company - involves registering a company name which will be scrutinized by someone somewhere in the 'black box' I referred to earlier, setting up a bank account, naming 'legal' directors and their contact details, 'objects' of company and so forth .
2. Getting a Trading License or Equivalent - this will involve stating what the company intends to do, bank details, directors details, location of business premises (subject to City Council's approval) and so forth. This process will follow the Swaziland Government Act of 1912!
3. Fullfiling other requirements - depending on what business you are undertaking.

Having mentioned the need to follow the steps above to register your company in Swaziland, I see a lot of businesses springing up on pavements, bus stops, on the side of roads in and around Mbabane. These are car washes and the newly popular 'bakkie vegetable traders'...I don't know if it's just me but there are car washes almost everywhere in town in locations that the city council wouldn't allow a registered trader to operate in. Whenever I drive past some of these car washes, I ask myself, do these guys have a permit to work here? It's not like they hide from the authorities. In fact the so called authorities that give you a hard time registering your business wash their cars at these very establishments I'm talking about.

Then there is this new trend of going to a fresh produce supplier, fill your bakkie with fruits and vegetables, find a parking spot next to the road and sell fruits and vegetables to the public. Is this allowed? Who gives these guys the permission to do this? For one, I don't think it is hygienic to sell food (because essentially that is what fruits and vegetables are) in the open where there are all sorts of toxic materials released from cars and the likes...where are customers meant to park to buy? Where do the owners wash their hands before handling the food and so forth...in short I have a problem with the sanitation of these operations

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining that people are selling to make a living, but there should be a level playing field. Why should I go through the trouble of registering a company and getting a trading license when I can just fill up my bakkie and sell on the side of the road? Someone better fill me in because I am clearly missing some bit of information here...but for now I think it is pretty straight forward... just get me a bakkie and I will make some quick profit and be self employed.

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