Swazi investment agency does more than cut red tape

SET UP ten years ago to make foreign investment easier in the country, the Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority does more than cut bureaucratic red tape for new businesses requiring tax clearance certificates, work permits and a range of other documents – though such red tape cutting is Sipa’s primary function. Sipa also publicises the kingdom’s investment attractions and has presided over a steady growth in the industrial and services sectors since the late 1990s. “Swaziland has a potential work force of 300 000 skilled and educated people. We are a stable country, with a good infrastructure,” said Zizwe Vilane, director of Foreign Direct Investment. To attract new businesses, government has undertaken a factory shell construction programme both in the central Matsapha Industrial Estate, five kilometres west of the commercial hub Manzini, and in the southern Shiselweni Region. The nation’s highway construction programme, which has vastly expanded the road network since the 1990s, is another selling point for a landlocked country in need of quick access to border posts. Sipa also informs investors of the several favourable trade agreements the kingdom enjoys with the European Union, the US and Asia. “Swaziland may have a small domestic market, but the country is strategically positioned as an entry point into the region, and is signatory to a number of regional and international market access agreements, which offer investors entry into large markets. Historically, companies have been locating here as a quicker and cheaper way to access the South African market,” said Vilane.