The idea of having most of the relevant government ministries or their representatives in one location where an investor might go to register a company to establish a business in Bahrain is a fantastic step. One no longer has to spend days driving from one ministry to another to get a transaction done, now all one has to do is drive to the Seef Mall, pick a number and then go from one cubicle to another to finish an application or add an activity to a commercial license.

That can be improved of course. This came to me as I spent 2 hours and 45 minutes to simply add an activity to my commercial registration! I started the process at 10:14 this morning, and by 2pm when they shut down their systems my transaction did not conclude. Admittedly, only a couple more rubber stamps remain which I hope to finish within 15 minutes tomorrow morning.

Most of that time was waiting for my turn to be announced, but once I got to the assigned desk it was a matter of seconds before that part of the transaction got concluded, which is a testament to the professionalism and the training the staff their received. The centre should most definitely be emulated in all government (and private) offices.

Some cubicles were more busy than others of course. Throughout the time I was there, there was virtually no one seeking the services of the Ministry of Health, Immigration nor the Ministry of Information’s desks and staff there were obviously under utilised. Had they been also available to render services, things would have moved a lot quicker.

Which brings me to my suggestion: people at the Investors’ Centre should be trained to do all the jobs of all of those desks and all the information from the various ministries – the parts that they need to make decisions – should be made available to them too. That means that staff should become multi-disciplined so that if an investor wants to conclude a transaction, she should be able to finish all the requirements at a single desk, without having to hope from one cubicle to another. This undoubtedly speed up the transactions process but the staff will have to be trained in all the functions and should be compensated accordingly.

I’m off tomorrow morning again to spend some time there, but I hope that I won’t have to spend the whole morning chasing papers and that my transaction will be concluded in good time.