When Brwa Sami set up Iraq and Kurdistan’s first aquaponics system in Erbil, he had already solved the technical challenges. His system combines fish farming with soilless plant cultivation. It uses 90% less water than traditional farming, produces 30% more organic crops, and runs without chemical inputs.
The bigger uncertainty, though, was paperwork.
For years, registering a business in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq meant moving between offices, collecting stamps, paying unclear fees, and waiting months for approval. Many founders gave up before they ever opened their doors.
Brwa’s experience was different. With support from Rwanga Foundation, the Education and Community Health Organization (ECHO), and Ideas Beyond Borders (IBB), he registered his company through the Kurdistan Regional Government’s new online business portal. He submitted his business name digitally and received confirmation by email within 24 hours. If the name had already been taken, the system notified him and asked for a revision.
“The online registration process greatly facilitated business owners and saved a lot of time,” he said.
What once required months was completed in a day.
Brwa’s experience is no longer unusual. The changes are part of Kurdistan Is Open for Business, an initiative led by Ideas Beyond Borders in collaboration with the Kurdistan Regional Government, Rwanga Foundation, and ECHO.
Rebuilding the Registration System
For years, entrepreneurs faced outdated regulations, overlapping procedures, lump-sum taxation, and mandatory intermediaries. The system was not designed with first-time founders in mind.
Ideas Beyond Borders mapped where the process broke down: fragmented approvals, unclear tax rules, and no unified registration system.
Instead of waiting for major legislative reform, IBB worked within existing legal frameworks. Through a ministerial-level collaboration with the Kurdistan Regional Government — alongside Rwanga Foundation and ECHO — the focus shifted to administrative fixes that could be implemented immediately.
With support from Atlas Network following IBB’s 2024 Smart Bets Pitch Competition win, those recommendations moved from paper to policy.
Founders can now complete registration online. Processing times have dropped from several months to as little as 24 hours. Since the system launched, more than 7,000 companies have registered formally.
For many founders, this was their first entry into the formal economy.
Reform Without New Legislation
The Kurdistan Region’s parliament has been largely inactive since the October 2024 elections. Political deadlock made sweeping new laws unlikely.
The registration reform did not depend on them. Instead, the changes focused on administration:
- Consolidating procedures into a single digital platform
- Shifting from lump-sum taxation to profit-based taxation
- Allowing home-based businesses to register legally
- Removing the requirement to hire lawyers or accountants for basic compliance
These are technical adjustments. But for entrepreneurs, they mean fewer costs, fewer visits to government offices, and fewer reasons to delay launching a business.
“Dr. Jutyar and his team are impressed with your approach. Finally, someone is looking deeply into our existing system and identifying the gaps and solutions.”
Lana Dizayi, Head of the Media and Information Department in the Kurdistan Regional Government
Testing the Platform in Real Time
To see whether the new process worked outside official announcements, IBB invited entrepreneurs to try it themselves.
Through a startup competition for university seniors and early-stage founders, more than 900 applicants applied in the first week. Thirty were selected and funded. They documented each step of registering their businesses.
Their feedback led to additional refinements. Eighteen of those founders have now registered successfully. Several were later recognized as Young Entrepreneurs of the Year.
The obstacle had not been a lack of ideas, but access.
Governance That Shows Up in Daily Life
Registration reform does not solve every structural issue. Kurdistan’s 1997 Companies Law still requires modernization, and long-term stability will depend on future parliamentary action.
But reducing business registration from months to 24 hours changes how entrepreneurship feels on the ground. Founders can now go from idea to registered company in just a week rather than several months, reducing the need for informal businesses to operate in legal gray areas. The result is a faster cycle from idea to experimentation, enabling innovators to test, build, and scale new solutions with far less friction.
Acknowledgments
This initiative was led on the ground by Hussein Ibrahim, Ideas Beyond Borders Director in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, in collaboration with the Kurdistan Regional Government, Rwanga Foundation, and ECHO. IBB also extends thanks to Atlas Network, Tom Palmer, and Brad Lips for their partnership and support.