Bipa goes after defaulters

• TIRI MASAWI

THE Business and Intellectual Property Authority (Bipa) has warned that it would soon go after registered businesses that are not up to date with their levies.

This was announced yesterday by Ockert Jansen, Bipa’s executive marketing, corporate communications and client management services manager.

Jansen said businesses that are not in good standing risk being de-registered from the system.

Speaking on the ‘Breakfast in the Desert’ show on Desert Radio, Jansen said the authority is also engaging various stakeholders, including business people and artists, to patent their intellectual property.

“We are working on making business registration easier, and starting from next year, people should be able to do it online. We are also making sure information is accessible to those who want to access important information,” Jansen said.

Jansen said the authority has launched a campaign aimed at reaching out to all those who own intellectual property to protect their work. “We are starting a simple ABC process to make sure we sensitise everyone on the importance of registering a business,” he said.

Several businesses registered with Bipa have not been paying their dues, resulting in them accumulating penalties, Jansen said, adding that Namibians are also falling prey to middlemen, who offer to register business on their behalf at exorbitant rates.

“Because Bipa is too small, and we cannot be everywhere, we do what we call registration at your doorstep, where we also work with SME Compete and other stakeholders to reach out to those who want to register their business without using middlemen,” Jansen said.

Bipa has also activated electronic communication with potential business owners, Jansen revealed.

“For those who have registered their businesses, you do not have to come to Bipa to follow up on the process. We are now in a position to send you an electronic communication giving progress on the application,” he said.

He reiterated that while Bipa has covered sufficient ground to push its services closer to the people, it is also putting in place mechanisms to improve its efficiency and reduce the waiting period for business registration.

He said key among the challenges faced by the authority is dealing with the lack of understanding on the general registration process of a business in Namibia.

“I recently travelled to Okakarara and Keetmanshoop and I was shocked that most people think it is very expensive to register a business in Namibia. When I told the people that you need as little as N$250 to register a business, many of them were asking if we reduced the price. The challenge is simply that people are a bit reluctant to research and read on simple issues,” he said.

Meanwhile, Namibian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) chief executive officer Charity Mwiya says they have made a passionate plea to Bipa to stop charging penalties and interest where close corporations have not submitted their annual returns like the tax amnesty of the Ministry of Finance.

“We all know how important small businesses are to the global economy. They create jobs. They lift families out of poverty. They invigorate communities, and nowhere are they more important than in developing countries, where small businesses are responsible for 90% of new employment opportunities and up to 70% of GDP,” Mwiya said.

She added that Covid-19 dealt a devastating blow to SMEs resulting in businesses closing,while jobs were lost, and supply chains disrupted.