As part of their tour across Africa visiting Foster Moore customers, Sumit Poddar and Agnese Abelite recently spent time with our long-standing customer, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing (MTICM) in Lesotho.
For almost 12 years, we have been proud to support the Ministry on its registry modernisation journey. Since launching in December 2014, Lesotho’s digital Companies Register has transformed what was once a largely manual, paper-based process into a modern service supporting entrepreneurs and businesses to participate in the formal economy.
What continues to impress us is the commitment of the Ministry and its registry team to serving their citizens. Their dedication to continuous improvement and supporting businesses across Lesotho has helped establish the country’s companies register as a reference in the region, with representatives from other African jurisdictions visiting Lesotho to learn from its experience.
During the visit, the ministry's representatives spoke highly of the Foster Moore team, recognising their commitment to keeping this important public service running, resolving issues and finding practical solutions when challenges arise.
Ultimately, the impact is about people. On the way to the airport, the taxi driver told us the story of his partner incorporating a company so she could start her own business and open a bank account. It echoed the experience of other Foster Moore’s staff, who previously heard of initiatives by the ministry to empower entrepreneurship and women in business by facilitating access credit.
After more than a decade together, we are incredibly proud of this partnership and of the Ministry team behind it. Their work demonstrates how registry modernisation can support entrepreneurship, transparency, fairness, economic participation and opportunity, while providing valuable lessons for the wider African registry community.
Foster Moore's Account director Sumit Poddar and Director of Product Management Agnese Abelite with the Ministry's team in Maseru