The benefits of online company registration for Congolese immigrants

Abstract

Online company registration is a service, which has been claimed by Congo-Brazzaville immigrant entrepreneurs. It has taken centuries for scientists to develop computers that successfully enable businesses to grow in an effective erasure of national frontiers for business purposes. B2B e-commerce, which heralded the dawn of globalisation in the EU, USA, India, New Zealand and South Africa, is not yet applicable in Congo- Brazzaville. Presently, B2B e-commerce has made the global economy porous, which consequently activated online business registration. This porosity has enabled SMMEs to save supply chain management costs, create jobs, improve customer care and contribute to the country’s GDP. However, owing to the characteristics of Congolese immigrants’ SMMEs in Cape Town, online business registration has become imperative to enable them to expand in Congo and to save supply chain management costs and contribute to the country’s economic reconstruction process. Recently, the Centre For Business and Administrative Procedures (CFBAP): Centre des Formalités Administratives des Entreprises’ (CFE) B2B e-commerce website has become in demand. Furthermore, at a national level, e-commerce website adoption at CFBAP will leverage the country’s standards of conducting business and will boost the pride of CFBAP, as an organisation, as well as its partners in an aspect that is at the core of its values. The main objective of this study is to analyse the benefits of online business registration for Congo-Brazzaville immigrant entrepreneurs in Cape Town. The study has established motivating factors to implement an e-commerce website at CFBAP in Brazzaville, but did not recommend any specific e-commerce technology for the institution. The research has also made an earnest attempt to illicit reasons why Congo-Brazzaville immigrant entrepreneurs invest in Brazzaville in spite of being well established in Cape Town. The research target population included Congo-Brazzaville immigrant entrepreneurs who were selected from their association and who live in Cape Town, where the study was conducted. The nature of the research dictated both quantitative and qualitative methodologies in order to gain a better understanding of the research problem that was identified. Key words: E-commerce, CFE, Congo-Brazzaville, World Bank, SMMEs, immigrants, Centre for Business and Administrative Procedures (CFBAP).