BUJUMBURA December 27th (ABP) – The Center for Development and Business (CDE-Great Lakes) organized on Monday, December 23, 2019, as part of its Birashoboka campaign to reduce barriers to free enterprise in Burundi, an exchange workshop on the legal constraints that hamper free enterprise in Burundi, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
The exchanges took place between the executives of regulatory agencies such as the CNTA, API, OBR, members of the Federal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CEFCIB), the Association of Women Entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs, lecturers of universities and representatives of Burundi Business Incubator (BBIN).
Dr. Emery Nukuri, professor at the University of Burundi and consultant, focused on the legal constraints that paralyze free enterprise in Burundi. He showed that two certification institutions, namely BBN and CNTA, constitute in a way a barrier to the development of a Burundian entrepreneur and especially one who operates in the agricultural sector.
According to Mr. Nukuri, the result of this situation is that there are few businesses that are created in the agricultural sector. For example, only 4% of the businesses created work in Agriculture and Livestock.
The professor notes that the Agriculture and Livestock sector, which supports more than 90% of the Burundian population, does not attract many entrepreneurs because.
On that occasion, the entrepreneurs who spoke showed the ordeal they experience during the request for certification of their products. They indicated that there are some who have just spent almost 2 years without that certification, which slows down the development of their business especially that the progress of those businesses should be beneficial both for themselves and for the country.
The representative of the CFCIB indicated that the slowness which characterizes the certification of products by the BBN and the CNTA is in most cases due to the lack of material and financial means which plagues the sequence of activities.
However, he said that the certification of consumable products by the people must be done in a careful way so as not to endanger human life.
Regarding the lack of resources recorded on the side of those regulatory agencies, that framework reassures and indicates that Trade East Africa and COMESA are committed to materially equipping those agencies so that they can work in good conditions.
A BBN manager who participated in that exchange workshop said that the slowness of certification is linked to laboratory equipment which is not complete to carry out the necessary analyses because, according to him, if a product has to be certified, it is necessary to analyze all the parameters that appear in the standard, which requires sufficient time and resources to do so.
He hopes that with the promise of partners all those problems related to certification will soon find a lasting solution.
During the recommendations, the participants agreed that the certification of a product is a major concern and that rapid, efficient and effective solutions are a necessity to that problem.
