Setting up

Setting up a company in Egypt takes a few simple steps and just a few days.

Following reforms to streamline registration and incorporation, setting up a company now takes just a few days rather than two to three months. With ITIDA at your side to help, you register and incorporate through a central agency: the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI).

There are two main steps: pre-registration and registration.

Pre-registration

During this stage, you need to do five things:

• Decide the legal structure of the company
• Ensure that the company to be set up complies with the ICT company laws
• Notify GAFI that you intend to set up a business in Egypt and obtain a comprehensive incorporation package from them
• Obtain a certificate for approval of the company’s name from the Commercial Registry
• Make the guarantee deposit in a bank and issue the power of attorney.

Pre-registration should only take a few days.

Registration

During this stage, you need to:

• Verify documents
• Pay fees
• Gain approval from the state notary
• Complete commercial registry
• Become a Chamber of Commerce member
• Assume legal responsibility and juridical personality on the date of registration
• Obtain tax cards and social security for employees after registration.

This stage takes seven to nine working days.