Introduction
In September 2025, Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, announced reforms to slash what he described as “exorbitant” and repetitive licensing and regulatory fees. This decision came after he personally experienced the bureaucratic burden his wife faced when attempting to open a restaurant in Bulawayo. She was required to obtain numerous licences covering restaurants, bakeries, butcheries, and liquor sales, despite all being under one roof (Vinga, 2025). Ncube’s intervention underscores a deeper structural issue across Africa: excessive and overlapping licensing regimes that frustrate entrepreneurs and discourage business growth (Read Here)
The Broader African Pattern
Zimbabwe’s challenge is not unique. Across the continent, entrepreneurs frequently encounter outdated and overlapping regulatory systems. Business owners are often required to pay multiple fees to different agencies for activities within the same enterprise, which creates financial strain and reduces competitiveness. For example, in Kenya, businesses are required to secure nearly 20 separate permits and licences depending on their sector; from standards certification, environmental clearances, premises safety, and trade permits, many of which overlap in mandate across national and county authorities, creating high compliance costs and delays (Kenya Association of Manufacturers, 2024).
These regulatory burdens manifest in several ways: excessive fees, bureaucratic delays, corruption through “facilitation payments,” and significant opportunity costs for entrepreneurs. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which form the backbone of Africa’s private sector, suffer the most since they often lack the resources and networks to navigate such systems efficiently.
What’s Going on in Ghana
As a Ghanaian, I see striking parallels at home. Ghanaian enterprises continue to face a range of obstacles, including limited access to finance, unreliable electricity, and high tax rates. However, regulatory burdens, particularly in the areas of licensing and permits, remain deeply entrenched. For example, in the renewable energy sector, over 40 percent of firms reportedly operate without licences because costs, delays, and complicated requirements make compliance prohibitively difficult (Sarfo, 2024). Similarly, SMEs in the food and beverage industry complain that obtaining or renewing sanitary permits and product certifications through the Food and Drugs Authority is costly and procedurally complex, discouraging smaller producers from formalisation (The Ghana Report, 2025).
Further evidence from the 2024 Regional Entrepreneurship Freedom (REF) Index by ACEYE highlights that entrepreneurs across Ghana consistently rank licensing, certification, and overlapping regulatory mandates among their most frustrating barriers. Many entrepreneurs prefer to remain informal in order to avoid these burdens, although informality limits their access to finance and legal protections (ACEYE REF Index, 2024).
The result is a business environment where inefficiency thrives, discouraging formalisation and pushing many entrepreneurs into the informal economy, where they avoid costly licences altogether but miss out on access to finance and other formal benefits.
Why Waiting Until Someone “Experiences It” is a Problem
Ncube’s personal encounter with Zimbabwe’s licensing nightmare demonstrates how direct experience can push policymakers into action. However, relying on such moments of personal inconvenience is a poor basis for systemic reform. Many business owners without political connections suffer quietly under these burdens, with little chance of their struggles gaining national attention.
Reform should be proactive rather than reactive. The cost of waiting until a leader or stakeholder experiences a problem is lost jobs, slowed innovation, and missed investment opportunities. In Ghana and other African countries, reforming the regulatory environment could unleash a new wave of entrepreneurship and growth without waiting for high-level officials to “feel the pain” themselves.
What Zimbabwe Is Doing
To address the problem, Zimbabwe has already begun cutting fees. Several licensing requirements have been reduced or eliminated, including those for small-scale farmers, dairy processors, and feed manufacturers (Vinga, 2025). The government has also pledged to eliminate repetitive licensing fees within six months and streamline the regulatory environment by consolidating overlapping licences (Bulawayo24, 2025).
These steps are promising, but the challenge lies in consistent implementation and monitoring. Without robust accountability, reforms risk being diluted or reversed over time.
What Ghana (and Others) Could Do
Ghana and its peers across Africa could take important lessons from Zimbabwe’s reforms. First, governments must map all existing licences and permits, identify redundancies, and consolidate overlapping requirements. Second, fee structures should be simplified and digitised to reduce both direct costs and opportunities for corruption. Third, regulatory agencies should be held accountable through published service timelines and transparent reporting mechanisms.
Most importantly, reform efforts must include deliberate consultations with entrepreneurs, especially SMEs and women-led businesses, whose voices are often marginalised in policy discussions. By acting now, Ghana can avoid waiting for a crisis or personal inconvenience among leaders before taking steps that will improve its business climate and accelerate prosperity.
Conclusion
Zimbabwe’s licensing reform, born from personal frustration at the highest level of government, offers an important lesson for Africa. Excessive and repetitive licensing systems are not simply bureaucratic inconveniences; they are barriers to growth, innovation, and opportunity. Ghana, like many other African countries, should not wait for individual stakeholders to suffer before acting. Proactive reform of licensing and regulatory frameworks will create a more enabling environment for entrepreneurship, strengthen economic competitiveness, and ultimately advance shared prosperity.
References
Africa Centre for Entrepreneurship and Youth Empowerment. (2024). 2024 Regional Entrepreneurship Freedom (REF) Index Report. Accra, Ghana: ACEYE. https://www.aceye.org/the-ref-index/
Bulawayo24. (2025, May 13). Repetitive licensing fees to stop in six months. AllAfrica. https://allafrica.com/stories/202505130048.html
Kasser-Tee, C. K. B. (2020). Understanding, preventing and fighting administrative corruption in the business registration regime in Ghana. Ghana Center for Democratic Development. https://cddgh.org/wpcontent/uploads/2020/09/UnderstandingPreventingandFightingAdministrativeCorruptionintheBusinessRegistrationRegimeinGhana.pdf
Mohammed, I., & Bunyaminu, A. (2021). Major obstacles facing business enterprises in an emerging economy: The case of Ghana using the World Bank Enterprise Survey. Journal of Small Business & Enterprise Development. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-04-2020-0110
Vinga, A. (2025, September 11). Zimbabwe: Mthuli Ncube slashes repetitive licensing fees after personal experience with ‘exorbitant’ restaurant registration charges. AllAfrica. https://allafrica.com/stories/202509110112.html
Zimbabwe National Competitiveness Commission. (2023). Mining licensing requirements in Zimbabwe remain burdensome – NCC. ZimbabweNow. https://www.zimbabwenow.co.zw/articles/11114/mining-licensing-requirements-in-zim-remain-burdensome-ncc
