1. SOUTH SUDAN BUSINESS
FORUM
PRESENTATION TO EASE OF DOING
BUSINESS CONFERENCE
MAPUTO
1ST JULY, 2014

2. INTRODUCTION
• South Sudan Business Forum (SSBF)
• Constitution; South Sudan should be private sector
led economy
• Government formed Ministry of Trade, Industry and
Investment to implement Constitutional provision.
• Policy framework providing for public-private
consultations on issues related to private sector
growth
• SSBF formed to carry out public-private dialogue

3. About SSBF
• Is a joint initiative between public and private
sector aimed at facilitating dialogue between
public and private sector in order to address
constraints to business growth.
• SSBF is to advocate and lobby for
opportunities to allow the private sector to
make inputs into policies.

4. Objectives of SSBF
1. Identify and discuss constraints to private
sector development, suggest and design,
advocate for solutions, follow-up on
implementation of agreed reforms.
2. To accelerate implementation of reforms
conducive to the improvement of business
climate in South Sudan
3. To contribute to and enhance locally
operating enterprises competitiveness

5. Organisational Structure
SUMMIT
(Public-Private Sector Forum)
SECRETARIAT
(Facilitating organ)
Financial
Services WG SME WG
Trade & Tax
Administration
WG
Land &
Agriculture
WG
Infrastructure
WG
Health Sector
W G

6. Functions
• Identify and discuss obstacles
• Ensure that agreed reforms are implemented
• Enhance business competitiveness
• Build the capacity of local entrepreneurs to improve
countries ranking on Doing Business report

7. Composition of the Secretariat
• Secretariat is in charge of managerial, technical,
monitoring, informational and promotional
functions composed of a board of directors and
secretariat staff
• Working Groups in charge of sectoral issues
• Secretariat is headed by a program coordinator

8. Working Groups
• Composed of both the public sector and private
sector representation
• The working groups identify issues, analyse and give
recommendations on constraints affecting the
growth of private sector in the sectors they belong
to. They also follow up the implementation of
resolutions.

9. Potential Benefits of Public Private
Dialogue (PPD)/SSBF
1. Precipitates policy reform that included new legislation, amendment of
existing legislation, removal or simplification of regulation and controls,
standardization of procedures across different jurisdictions and
establishment of new institutions.
2. Promotes better diagnosis of investment climate problems and design of
policy reforms.
3. Makes policy reforms easier to implement. When entrepreneurs
understand what a government is trying to achieve with a reform package,
they are more likely to accept and work with the reform in practice.
4. Promotes transparency, good governance and broader view. PPD
facilitates open discussions and policy setting while eliminating to a
certain extent hidden decisions that would favor one sector against other
sectors.
5. Builds an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding between public
and private sectors and improving social cohesion and civil society.

10. Achievements
1. Mutual trust has been built between public and
private sector players in the economy.
Consultations have been carried out to gather the
views of various stakeholders and to sensitize them
on the benefits of dialogue.
2. Formation of Business Association e.g.
Microfinance, Commercial Banking,
Pharmaceuticals, Lawyers, Petroleum, insurance,
Hospitality and construction.

11. Achievements-cont’d
3. Various legal frame work were developed others were finalized while
others are on pipeline covering all the working groups. The lists are long but
some of them are:
• Finalized legal frame works included among others are:
• SSBF Regulations were signed into law.
• Drafting and enactment of 21 commercial laws and five of these laws and
three sets of statutory Regulations were simplified, published and launched
as simple guides.
• A number of bills before parliament were consulted on using the PPD
process.
• Outstanding legal frame work in progress among others are:
• Access to finance: Movable property security bill, insurance bill,
development of legal framework for mobile banking, Microfinance policy,
creation of credit bureau, etc.
• Trade and Taxation: a bill for creating single tax authority, a bill for state
• Small and medium enterprises: Draft Private sector development strategy is
finalized and submitted to higher level approval.

12. Achievements-Cont’d
4. Held the annual National Business Summit which
produced the communique between the public
and private sector to implement private sector
development agenda.
5. Supported the South Sudan Investment
Conference by identifying constraints to and
recommending solutions to investment constraints
in five major investment sectors; mining and
petroleum, agriculture, infrastructure, tourism and
cross-cutting issues.

13. Current issues at hand
1. Follow up on the key resolutions of the last
business summit conference held last year in
October.
2. Preparation for 30th-31st July 2014 Workshop on
mitigating impact of conflict on the private sector
in South Sudan.

14. • The workshop will take cognizance of the current status of the private
sector; seek stakeholder consensus and mutual agreement on measures
to:
• Enhance awareness about the private sector’s role in the economic
development of South Sudan and the potential peace dividend deriving
from resolving the ongoing conflict through a negotiated peace
settlement;
• Strengthen the role of private sector in assuring the nation’s food
security and addressing food shortages through Government facilitated
and supported market interventions;
• Facilitate banks and enable them reactivate lending to the private sector
and assure access to finance;
• Establish regulatory framework and strengthen the insurance industry in
order to mitigate impact of conflict on private sector activities in future;
• Improved mobility of goods and people by addressing infrastructure and
regulatory bottlenecks, with emphasis on challenges occasioned by the
ongoing conflict;
• Address health service provision to the population through greater
private sector participation; and
• Accelerate private sector participation in post conflict reconstruction in
the most affected areas.

15. Challenges
1. The size and level of development in South Sudan
is still small and weak. This calls for a concerted
effort towards improving the capacity of the
private sector to articulate issues that affect
business growth.
2. Low rate of implementation of reform agenda and
lack of awareness on reforms.
3. The young nature of the development of the
private sector and business associations.

16. Thank you
Ukuni Paul Omeson
Program officer/ SSBF