ZimCompany: register and run a Zimbabwean company from abroad

ZimCompany registers Zimbabwean companies for owners who are not in Zimbabwe, then keeps them compliant: tax registration, employer registration, clearances and renewals. One desk in Harare, coordinating licensed providers, whether you are a Zimbabwean living abroad, an investor from another country, or a company opening a subsidiary. Register and run a Zimbabwean company from anywhere.

Our fee and government fees are always shown as two separate numbers. On a Private Limited Company the government component is US$65, being a US$5 name search and US$60 to register the entity, taken from the live registry portal on 4 July 2026. We confirm your timeline in writing before you pay.

Three ways people arrive at a Zimbabwean company

The filings are the same. What changes is who owns the company, and that changes which statutory appointments it has to hold and which approvals sit in front of it. Pick the one that describes you and the questionnaire starts from there.

None of the three is a sales call. All three produce a price, a document list and the government fees as their own number, except a foreign owner buying into a company that already exists, where exchange control approval can apply and we talk to you first. Invest in Zimbabwe: what a foreign-owned company actually needs.

Two numbers, always

Every quote we send separates our fee from the government fee. On a Private Limited Company the government component is US$65: a US$5 name search charged flat per application, and US$60 to register the entity. Those figures came off the live registry portal on 4 July 2026.

Some agents publish a single all-in number and quote the government fee as US$40. That does not match what the portal charged. Where a registry or a revenue authority does not itemise its component, we say so in words rather than inventing a split.

How registering a Zimbabwean company from abroad works

  1. Answer twelve questions. Where you live, what you want to build, who is going to own it and whether anyone is resident in Zimbabwe. It takes about three minutes and it is how we work out which vehicle the law actually allows you, and what your ownership adds to the list.
  2. Get an estimate and a written timeline. You see the recommended vehicle, the bundle, our fee and the government fees as separate numbers. We confirm your timeline in writing before you pay anything.
  3. Pay a deposit. A deposit when the job is sent to the registry, the balance when the work is done. Government fees are passed through at cost.
  4. Send your documents. Identity documents or passports, proof of address, your five proposed names and your ownership split, plus the registration documents of any company that will hold shares. We tell you exactly what to certify, and by whom in the country you are in.
  5. We file, track and deliver. A registered filing agent in Harare lodges the application. You get an update at every step and your documents when the registry issues them.

The rule that decides everything

Ownership of a Zimbabwean company carries no residency requirement. The board is where residency bites, and it is the reason two people abroad get two different answers.

If nobody you know is ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe, you have three honest options: register a Private Business Corporation, put someone you already trust and who does live there on the board of a Private Limited Company, or take our resident company secretary and registered office lines. We do not sell a nominee director. Where an owner is not a Zimbabwean citizen the resident company secretary is not a choice at all, it is mandatory, and it is priced as its own annual line in your estimate.

The clearest reason to own the company rather than bid into Zimbabwe

If you intend to sell to the Zimbabwean government, where your company is registered decides what you pay every year to stay on the supplier register. A locally registered small or medium enterprise pays around US$50 to US$75 per category per year. A foreign bidder pays US$850 a year. This is the one place where the choice between a Zimbabwean entity and a foreign one has a published annual price on it.

That gap repeats annually, for every year you bid, and it applies whether the owner is Zimbabwean or not: what matters to the procurement authority is where the company is registered, not whose passport is behind it.

Fee figures are from a secondary analysis of the 2026 fee structure. The procurement authority publishes no fee page of its own, and supplier registration is currently paused for a system upgrade, so we run a waitlist rather than taking payment.

What a Zimbabwean company pays in 2026

Every figure on this page was verified on 10 September 2026 against its published source.

Who you are dealing with

ZimCompany is a Lioncap Ventures service. Lioncap Ventures (Pvt) Ltd is registered in Zimbabwe under number 16326A02102024 and operates from Harare. It builds and runs software and compliance platforms used by Zimbabwean businesses, including the data protection compliance practice at StoneGuard.

We publish entity numbers rather than client logos, and we do not publish testimonials we have not been given. When this page eventually carries names and numbers from real clients, they will be real.

Frequently asked questions

Can I register a company in Zimbabwe if I do not live there?

Yes, and you do not have to be Zimbabwean either. Owning a Zimbabwean company carries no residency or citizenship requirement. The requirement sits on the board of a Private Limited Company: section 195(2) of the Companies and Other Business Entities Act [Chapter 24:31] requires at least one director ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe and section 198(1) requires a company secretary ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe. A Private Business Corporation carries neither, because those duties attach to a company and a PBC is a different entity type under the same Act.

Do I need a Zimbabwean director?

Only for a Private Limited Company, under section 195(2). Section 198(1) separately requires a company secretary ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe. If nobody you know is resident there, register a Private Business Corporation or take our resident secretary and registered office lines. We do not sell a nominee director.

Can a foreign national own a Zimbabwean company?

Yes, and you get a price from us rather than a sales call. A foreign-owned company must hold a Zimbabwean company secretary, which is a statutory appointment rather than an optional extra, so we quote it as its own annual line. A Private Limited Company additionally needs a director ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe. Reserved-sector limits and ZIDA registration may also apply, and both are set out on our foreign owner page rather than kept back.

Can a company registered outside Zimbabwe own a Zimbabwean company?

Yes, as a shareholder of a Private Limited Company. It cannot use a Private Business Corporation: section 253(1) of the Companies and Other Business Entities Act allows only individual natural persons acting in their own right to be members and excludes a body corporate, directly or through a nominee. So a foreign parent opening a Zimbabwean subsidiary registers a Private Limited Company and holds the shares in it.

Do I need to register with ZIDA?

Registration with the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency is reported to apply to a Zimbabwean company with 51% or more foreign shareholding. ZIDA also runs a One Stop Investment Services Centre that facilitates company and tax registration, permits and sector licences. Our assistance with it is quoted after a short consultation and the ZIDA fees are paid to ZIDA at cost. We confirm the current figures with ZIDA before you pay anything.

Which sectors are reserved for Zimbabwean owners?

Statutory Instrument 215 of 2025 reserves fourteen sectors, including retail and wholesale trade, taxis and omnibuses, bakeries, grain milling, tobacco grading, pharmacies, estate agencies, employment agencies, advertising agencies, hairdressing and beauty salons, barber shops, arts and crafts, vending and small-scale mining. Foreign participation in a reserved sector is capped at 25% of the equity and Zimbabwean citizens must hold at least 75%, with divestment to a cumulative 25%, 50% and 75% over three years. Our source is a law firm summary rather than the gazette, so we confirm your position before you pay.

I want to buy into a Zimbabwean company that already exists. Can you price that?

If every owner is a Zimbabwean citizen, yes: the share transfer and the change of directors are filings we quote once we have looked the company up on the register. If any owner is not a Zimbabwean citizen, exchange control approval can apply to acquiring shares in an existing company, so we talk to you before quoting. It is the only route on this site that does not produce an instant price, and it is a conversation rather than a refusal.

Does registering the company get my staff a work permit?

No. Work and residence permits for people you move to Zimbabwe are handled through ZIDA and the immigration authorities, and they are a separate process from registering the company. We say so before you plan around it rather than after.

How much does it cost to register a company in Zimbabwe?

Our fee and the government fee are always shown separately. On a Private Limited Company the government component is US$65, being a US$5 name search and US$60 to register the entity, taken from the live registry portal on 4 July 2026. Our own fees are on the pricing page.

How long does it take?

We do not publish a turnaround we have not confirmed in writing. You get a written timeline with your estimate, before you pay anything. Claims of twenty four hour registration are made elsewhere and we are not willing to repeat them.

What is the corporate tax rate in Zimbabwe?

We do not publish one. A Zimbabwean company pays corporate income tax plus the 3% AIDS levy, at the rate in force for the year, which we confirm against the Finance Act before you rely on it. Published sources currently disagree on the 2026 rate, and neither the revenue authority nor the usual international tax summary has a working page that settles it, so stating a figure here would be guessing with your planning. The levy being 3% charged on the tax rather than on the profit is not in dispute.

When must my company register for VAT?

Registration is compulsory once taxable supplies reach US$25,000 in a twelve month period, and voluntary below that. The standard rate rose to 15.5% on 1 January 2026.

What does NSSA cost per employee?

Contributions to the Pension and Other Benefits Scheme are 9% of insurable earnings in total, 4.5% from the employer and 4.5% from the employee, capped at US$700 of insurable earnings a month. That caps the employer cost at US$31.50 per employee per month.

What happens if my company has no tax clearance?

Where no valid ITF263 tax clearance is produced, 30% is withheld from amounts payable to your company. It is the most expensive thing to let lapse when nobody running the company is in the country.

Who actually does the filing?

A registered filing agent in Harare lodges registrations. Accounting work is done by a registered practice. Anything that amounts to legal advice, including shareholder agreements and the opinion on whether an exchange control approval applies to your transaction, is referred to a legal practitioner. ZimCompany is the desk that coordinates them and carries the deadlines.

What do you do with my identity documents?

They are stored in an encrypted document store and used only to complete the filings you asked for. We keep them for twelve months after your last completed job unless a retainer is running, then delete them. The privacy page sets this out in full.

Talk to ZimCompany

ZimCompany registers and runs Zimbabwean companies for people and businesses anywhere in the world: owners living outside Zimbabwe, foreign investors, and companies registered elsewhere that need a Zimbabwean entity. Email support@lioncapventures.com or message +263 77 272 4514 on WhatsApp. We work 9:00 to 17:00 CAT, UTC+2 in Harare, Zimbabwe.

ZimCompany is a Lioncap Ventures service. Lioncap Ventures (Pvt) Ltd, registration 16326A02102024, Harare, Zimbabwe. Start with the questionnaire at https://zimcompany.com/start.