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Doing business in Ivory Coast

 

he economy and the government of Ivory Coast is based on the liberalism which promotes the private initiative, the mechanisms of market and the opening to the capital and foreign trade.Ivory Coast holds the position of the world’s largest cocoa producer and the world’s third largest coffee producer and the two products alone represent more than half of the income of the country’s export. The other key products of exports are wood, rubber, palm oil and banana exports oil and gas. Foreign investment holds an important position in the Ivoirian economy and accounts for between 40% and 45% of total capital in Ivoirian firms. France is overwhelmingly the most important foreign investor.

Investment Opportunities

 

Real Estate Sector :

 

With the coming in of stability in Ivory Coast  there is a huge and viable  requirement  property. There is a wide gap between the supply and demand which has become more and more apparent with each passing year soon impeded efforts to promote building. To alleviate this problem and counteract the  illegal squatting and precarious neighbourhoods , the Ministry of Construction and Urbanism recently launched an operation to improve the supply of a wide range of land in urban areas so as to make them more accessible. Thus there is an opportunity for investment in this sector.

 

Rubber Industry :

 

Ivory Coast is aiming to triple its rubber production by 2025 .The Natural rubber plantation in Ivory coast , the continent's top producer, reached 200,000 tonnes in 2008, up from 188,500 in 2007.The farmers are confident that price support measures will keep output on the rise for years to come.

 

Ivory Coast is also the world's largest cocoa producer problems of crop diseases, aging trees are resulting lower yields and stunting growth in the country's rubber industry.

 

Many Ivorian farmers are now turning to rubber because of high cocoa taxes and a lack of government support, which many of the analysts say boosts prices in the short term but could be disastrous later.

The rubber sector, however, in Ivory Coast has launched initiatives to boost production in the country

 

Below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles faced by entrepreneurs wishing to incorporate and register a new firm in Côte d'Ivoire. It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with between 10 and 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income.

 

This information was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 189 economies. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2015.

 

No.		Procedure	Time to Complete	Associated Costs
	1	A notary draft the statutes and certifies the paid-in capital Agency: Notary A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on February 23, 2013 between the chamber of notaries and the one-stop shop reducing notary fees to a fix forfeit of 120,000 CFA for SARL with a minimum capital of XOF 1,000,000. For a SARL registering with a higher capital, a different percentage will apply depending on the amount. For example, for an SARL with a share capital between XOF 3 million and XOF 9 million, the fees are 3% of the share capital. Since 2014, the use of notaries is not compulsory – however, most entrepreneurs still use their services.	2 days	XOF 120,000
	2	Open a bank account and deposit the minimum capital requirement at the bank Agency: Bank Business founders must open a bank account to deposit their start up capital.	1 day	no charge
	3	Register at the one-stop shop (CEPICI) and publish the legal notice Agency: CEPICI On December 26, 2012, Cote d’ Ivoire launched a One Stop Centre for business registration (CEPICI), which allows entrepreneurs to register with the commercial registrar (Registre du Commerce et du Crédit Inmobilier), the tax authority (Direction Générale d’ Impots) and the social security institute (Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance Sociale). The one-stop-shop also publishes the legal notice of incorporation on their website (http://www.cepici.gouv.ci/)	3 days	XOF 15,000
	4	Obtain a company seal Agency: Seal maker Business founders can make a company seal at the Sealmaker for approximately XOF 10,000.	1 day	approximately XOF 10,000