Samuel Nablah Baddoo, a former commercial lawyer and his friend Kwei Quaye-Foli, a computer engineer, are building SwiftLaw, an online platform allowing clients in Ghana to incorporate a business and register trademarks online within a week after they came to realities on how cumbersome the process was.
“We were quickly welcomed to the realities of doing business and legal practice here .We encountered a terrain which required a bit more patience than we had expected,” the founders said. “Wouldn’t it be easier to take one bite-sized aspect of commercial legal practice such as incorporating a company and simplify that?” And hence Swiftlaw was born as an idea of how to do one thing, more efficient.
Samuel, a UK trained lawyer and Kwei, a Computer Science graduate from Ashesi University in Ghana say their company Swiftlaw will end the hassles that made incorporating a company in Ghana a nightmare.
“We realized the relative hassle involved in setting up a business, opening company bank accounts, protecting trademarks or registering a company with a public institution can be and we simplified the process,” they say. “Swiftlaw allows you to incorporate a business, register a trademark, register with a public body and even goes a step further to recommend ancillary services that a business may need such as website development or printing of complimentary cards, all by filling out one form on our website.”
The two, who are former schoolmates at Achimota Secondary School in Ghana, say the Swiftlaw process, developed by a dedicated team of lawyers, laymen and software engineers will make the incorporation process in Ghana simple, cheaper and hassle-free than never before. Recently, Swiftlaw was shortlisted for the SME Empowerment Challenge 2016 an initiative run by HiiL Justice Accelerator together with the Ford Foundation to promote justice solutions that empower SME’s across Africa.
Swiftlaw also offers discounted rates to start-ups and allows SME’s to register their companies within a week saving them time and money.
To reach more startups and SME’s Swiftlaw works with Workshed Africa and the Innohub Accelerator, both startup incubators based in Accra, Ghana to help entrepreneurs register their businesses through Company Registration, Bank Account Openings and Company Searches. Swiftlaw also works closely with Ghana’s UK Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry France-Ghana and the Dubai Chamber of Commerce Ghana.