Mali provides for a number of business forms for investors under the OHADA uniform act. These include:

Société à responsabilité limitée (SARL) - a private limited company;
Société Anonyme (SA) - a public limited company;
Société en nom collectif (SNC) - a general partnership;
Société en commandite (SC) - a limited partnership;
Groupement d'intérêt économique (GIE) - an economic interest group; and
Joint Venture Company.

The main business forms used by foreign investors include the private and public limited companies (SARL and SA).

The minimum capital requirements for a private limited company are 1 million CFA francs, while the minimum capital requirement for a public limited company is 10 million CFA francs.

Foreign businesses can have representative offices in Mali. Representative offices can be formed for the purpose of promoting the business of the parent and for market research, however, such offices cannot take part in any direct sales activities.

A branch can be registered in Mali and it is considered as a separate legal entity. Pursuant to the revised OHADA rules, the branch must be converted into a subsidiary within 2 years of operations. The conversion obligation may be postponed by ministerial authorization for a similar period of 2 years but only once and only for companies subject to a “special regime”. Prior to the 2014 revision of the OHADA rules, the conversion obligation could be postponed by ministerial authorization multiple times and without the limitation to those entities benefitting from a “special regime”.

Further information on the general investment, tax and regulatory regime about the country is available at the following external references:

“Doing Business” report from World Bank – click here
Reports and publications from OECD – click here
Reports and publications from IMF - click here
Reports and news from Tax Justice Network – click here
Invest in Mali – click here
Ministry of Economy and Finance – click here

Powerful Tax Solutions

Tax Rules Engine

Collaboration Tools

Latest Tax News