Burkina Faso

Starting a Business in

Burkina Faso

Below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles faced by entrepreneurs wishing to incorporate and register a new firm in Burkina Faso. It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 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 185 economies. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2012.

Compare Burkina Faso to 184 other economies.

YearNew business densityNumber of new limited liability companies
2011 0.111,021

  • Standardized Company

  • Legal Form: Société à Responsabilité Limitée (SARL) - Limited Liability Company
  • Paid in Minimum Capital Requirement: XOF 1,000,000
  • City: Ouagadougou

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Deposit subscribed capital in a bank

Depositing the subscribed can take 1 to 3 days, depending on the bank.
1-2 days no charge
2 Have a notary public notarize the declaration of capital subscription and deposit the two acts with the notary office

Proof of capital deposit is required.
3 days 3 % of declared capital
3 Register at Centre des Formalités de Entreprise (CEFORE) for company registration, tax number (IFU), labor, and social security

By Decree No. 2005-332/PRES/PM/MCPEA/MFB/MTEJ of June 21, 2005, the Center for Business Formalities (CEFORE) was created and became operational in Ouagadougou. A single application form must be submitted to complete company registration with the Trade Register and Personal Credit (RCCM), to obtain the fiscal identification (or identifiant financier unique, IFU, at the Direction Générale des Impots) and the professional license (carte professionnelle de commerçant, at the Ministry of Commerce). After the form is submitted, CEFORE organizes the registration with the court and other authorities. Companies are assigned a unique company identification number for company registration, fiscal identification, and social security affiliation.

The official time for the completion of the registration process in this procedure is 7 working days. Because CEFORE forwards the documents to the respective agencies, however, in practice the delay is longer.

On May 23, 2007, the Minister of Labor and Social Security, the Minister of Commerce, and the Minister of Employment signed a decree that the required declarations must be filed with CEFORE. CEFORE then transfers the relevant information to Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale (CNSS), which has the mandate to disseminate that information to the National Agency of Employment Promotion (ANPE) and the Labor Inspectorate.

Publication can be done directly onto the CEFORE website) for a fee of XOF 10,000.

The sworn declaration (declaration sur l'honneur), instead of a copy of the criminal records of the manager is provided with the registration application. The entrepreneur will need to send a copy of her/his criminal record within 2 months.
The criminal record is issued by the Court for a cost of XOF 350 (XOF 125 + XOF 200 for stamps + XOF 25 for application).
9 days Fixed fee of XOF 47,500 : XOF 12,500 (RCCM) + XOF 7,500 (IFU) + XOF 5,000 (CNSS)+ XOF 7,500 (CEFORE) + XOF 5,000 (Court registration)+ XOF 10,000 (fee for publication).
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