Registering a company in Botswana is not difficult, but it is unforgiving of small mistakes. A name that will not pass, a shareholding split that does not add up, a licence you did not know your activity needed — each one sends you back to the start. This guide walks the whole route in order, so you know what is coming.
What do you need before you start?
Gather these first. Almost every delay we see is a missing document rather than a rejected application.
- A company name — ideally two or three alternatives, in case your first choice is taken.
- ID for every director and shareholder: an Omang for citizens, a passport copy for non-citizens.
- Contact details for everyone involved — each director, shareholder and the secretary needs a working mobile number and email address, because the registry contacts them directly.
- How the shares are split, in percentages that total 100.
- A physical address for the business.
- What the business will actually do — be specific, because this determines which licences you need.
How much does it cost to register a company in Botswana?
Through PulaGo it is P750 in total: P400 of CIPA charges for name reservation and registration, plus our P350 service fee for preparing and lodging everything. You pay P500 to start and P250 once the company is registered.
The structure matters more than the number. Any honest quote separates the government fee, which you would pay regardless, from the service fee, which is what you are paying a person to do. If a quote does not break those apart, ask which part is which.
CIPA sets its own fees and can change them. Check the current schedule on cipa.co.bw before you budget.
How long does registration take?
With PulaGo, your constitution and consent forms are prepared within one working day of receiving your details, and your registration is lodged with CIPA within two working days of you signing and returning them.
What happens after lodgement is CIPA's timeline, not ours. It is usually quick — registration in Botswana runs through the online OBRS system rather than over a counter — but a company with non-citizen directors or shareholders is generally reviewed rather than processed automatically, so allow more time in that case.
Step by step: how registration actually works
- Reserve the name. The registry checks it against existing names and rejects anything too similar, so having alternatives ready saves a round trip.
- Prepare the documents. This is the constitution and the consent forms every director, shareholder and secretary has to sign — the part where a small error costs the most time.
- Sign and return them. Nothing can be lodged until every signature is in.
- Lodge with CIPA, along with the pre-filled Form 1A carrying your directors and shareholding.
- Receive your certificate of incorporation and your registration number. The company legally exists from this point.
- Register for tax with BURS, and apply for whichever licence your activity requires. Registration alone does not make you allowed to trade.
Do you need a company secretary?
A company secretary is a statutory appointment, not a form you fill in once. The role keeps your registers of directors, members and shareholdings accurate, and prepares and safely keeps your resolutions, minutes and company records.
The practical warning: appoint someone who will still answer the phone in two years. The most common secretarial complaint we hear is not bad work, it is a secretary who became unreachable — which leaves you non-compliant through no action of your own. PulaGo appoints a vetted professional for P300.
What about tax — TIN, VAT and PAYE?
Every company needs a Taxpayer Identification Number from BURS. That is the baseline, and it is what a bank and most corporate customers will ask for. PulaGo handles BURS registration for P350, including obtaining your tax clearance certificate.
VAT and PAYE are separate applications, and most newly registered companies need neither immediately. VAT registration becomes compulsory once taxable turnover passes the threshold BURS sets — currently P1,000,000 — and PAYE only once you have employees on a payroll. Paying for all three at registration usually means paying for something you will not use for a year or more.
Thresholds and tax rules change. Confirm your position with BURS, or ask us to check it against what your business actually does.
Which licence does your business need?
This is the step most new owners miss. Incorporation makes the company exist; a licence makes it allowed to trade. Depending on your activity you may need a trading licence, an industrial licence, both, or a sector-specific licence issued by another authority.
Licence fees are set by the local council, not centrally, so the price genuinely depends on where you are. The total is always the council's fee plus whoever prepares the application for you. A real example: a pre-school licence under Gaborone City Council was P500 in council fees plus P1,000 for the work, so P1,500 in total.
Anyone who quotes you a licence price without first asking where the business is located is guessing.
What if your activity is reserved for citizens?
Some business activities in Botswana are reserved for citizens under the Trade and Industrial Acts. If yours is one of them and you are not a citizen, the structure has to account for that — often through a joint venture — and it is far cheaper to know before you incorporate than after. PulaGo flags reserved activities as part of working out which licences you need.
Can you open a business bank account straight away?
Once the company is registered, yes — but banks ask for more than the certificate. Expect to produce your company documents, a bank account opening resolution, a mandate letter for the signatories, proof of a physical address, and ID or passport copies for directors and shareholders. Most banks also have their own application form.
Requirements differ from bank to bank, so decide which bank you want before assembling the pack.
What keeps you compliant after registration?
The obligations that catch people out are the recurring ones, because nobody reminds you. Annual returns to CIPA. VAT returns, if you are registered. Licence renewals. Each has a deadline, and each carries consequences for missing it.
If you intend to bid for government work, note that the procurement regulator is the PPRA — PPADB no longer exists, so any guidance still referring to PPADB codes is out of date.
Can you do this yourself?
Yes, and you should know that. Registration runs online through CIPA, and you can do the whole thing at cipa.co.bw without paying anyone a service fee. Plenty of people do.
What you are buying from a service like ours is the part that is hard to do once: knowing which licence your activity needs, getting the constitution and consent forms right the first time, and having someone answer when something is queried. If you would rather learn the system yourself, the registry is genuinely usable. If you would rather it were handled, that is what we are for.
PulaGo is a private company, not a government agency, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by CIPA, BURS or PPRA. Our fees are shown separately from government fees.
One thing we do not do
We do not sell shelf companies. We register companies from the beginning, or act as company secretary for a company that already exists. If you already have a registered company and want the compliance side handled, that is a different starting point — bring the company across rather than registering a new one.