Five (5) Ways to Speed up Your Company Setup
By: Noel C Ducusin
This article is upon request of a reader from Tokyo Japan.
Government incentives to support your business are a good thing. However, more often than not, you are pressed for time and can barely wait for government paperwork to run its course, especially when your client’s requirements need to be serviced immediately. The last thing you want is for a business opportunity to pass you by while you wait for your government papers to be issued.
How can you set up your business as fast as possible? In this article, we will show you how.
1.. Set Up First – Get Incentives Later
If you are like most companies, the first few months will be spent getting yourself situated. At this early stage of the business, commercial operations are still a bit further down the road. This means that you don't need your government incentives right away.
It's important to note that there is nothing that prohibits you from setting up your company first and then applying for government incentives later. You can use the limited time you have up front to start assembling the team of people you need and begin training them for the job and this can be done in parallel with the processing of your government incentives.
2. Use a One-Person Corporation (OPC)
The One Person Corporation (OPC) uses a simplified setup procedure and, as the name implies, only needs one shareholder, which in most cases will be your parent company anyway.
The One Person Corporation will give you all the benefits of a regular corporation including but not limited to a separate juridical/legal personality that will be considered distinct from that of its shareholders, directors, and officers thus giving protection to their assets from corporate liabilities. The One Person Corporation also gives the usual benefit of perpetual existence thus allowing the corporation to run smoothly despite changes in shareholders, officers, or directors.
3. Use A Virtual Office
The pandemic has shown us that service delivery can very much effectively be carried out remotely and there is no need for a physical office as long as business-class network connectivity is available.
There are many good options for a virtual office that can also serve as your office address with government regulators where your business and other operating permits can be registered to.
Virtual offices are not only extremely fast to setup, but they also have much lower overhead costs as there is no need to pay for large office space, pay the association dues because of such a large space, energize the area, outfit it for network connectivity, not to mention office renovation to accommodate multiple workers.
With a virtual office, you can get all of these instantly upon signing up. It's only a matter of choosing a reliable virtual office with efficient staff and systems and personnel to meet your requirements.
In this regard, please note that certain government incentives, particularly those issued by the Philippine Export Processing Zone Authority (as contrasted to the Board of Investments), require that you locate within the designated export zones.
4. Use Consultants Then Hire Employees Later
There is no need, legal or otherwise, to hire actual employees to immediately start operations.
All that is required regulatory compliance-wise for your new company is that you have a local treasurer (a role that your local accountant can take on for an additional fee) and a local corporate secretary (a role that your local attorney can also take on for an additional fee).
If you need other work done, you can simply hire consultants on an as needed basis with a specific scope of work.
The advantage of using consultants is that consultants are not employees and therefore you do not need to undertake the additional compliance requirements of registering with the local employment or social securities regulators thus cutting down your setup time and costs substantially.
5. Avoid the Apostille
Almost all documents filed with local regulators require that they be notarized or authenticated.
If you are signing these documents abroad, at the bare minimum, you will need to go to your equivalent Department of Foreign Affairs / Secretary of State to get an apostille certificate to authenticate your document for local use.
The better procedure would be to coordinate in advance with your local lawyer to have the regulatory filings ready for your signature when you arrive in the Philippines. For any other documents, you can issue the necessary power of attorney. This way, everything can be accomplished on your first site visit even if you are in the country only for tourist purposes at that time.
This will eliminate the need for you to take time to book an appointment with your foreign affairs regulator in your country.
Once your corporation is set up, you may then avail of its benefits such as the ability to open local bank accounts, use the local corporation for your business visa application, hire local workers to service your offshore customers without having to go through the local overseas employment regulator, and the like.
These are a few of the ways that you can expedite your company setup process.
We hope that this information has been helpful. For more tips and suggestions please stay tuned. Once again, the articles we produce are driven by your topic suggestions so please keep these topic suggestions coming.
Thank you!
About the Author
Atty. Noel C. Ducusin is the Director for M&A at DoingBusinessPH, where he works with offshore investors—primarily from Japan, Europe, the US, and Southeast Asia—seeking to enter the Philippine market through acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic partnerships. He also advises local companies, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals on originating and executing transactions, including preparing businesses to be investment-ready through reverse due diligence.
His work spans the full M&A cycle: identifying counterparties, managing due diligence, leading negotiations, structuring transactions, arranging financing, and coordinating with trusted vendors such as banks, suppliers, and contractors. For startups and new ventures, he helps design fundraising-ready structures and connects them with investors, making DoingBusinessPH a natural bridge between global capital and local opportunity.
Beyond transactions, Noel and his team provide training and digital resources that demystify Philippine business and regulatory frameworks, giving foreign investors the confidence to navigate the local landscape.
A lawyer by training with a degree in Business Management, Noel is also Senior Partner at N. Ducusin & Partners Law Offices, which specializes in Mergers & Acquisitions, Investments, Cross-Border Regulatory, and Corporate Advisory. Over the years, he has developed deep, practical expertise in corporate finance, company valuation, and financial modeling through hands-on involvement as part of the deal team in live transactions. This combination of legal and financial experience allows him to bridge both perspectives seamlessly, ensuring that deals are not only executed but positioned for long-term success.
He is always looking forward to comparing notes with investors, startups, and vendors to explore where his clients’ mandates align with theirs and to uncover potential opportunities and collaborations that benefit both sides. Please feel free to connect with him to continue the conversation and explore where your goals and his clients’ interests may intersect.
His mission for this blog is to help foreign investors, business owners, and managers by breaking down complex legal concepts and dense technical material into simple, straightforward, and actionable insights for better business decisions. Articles and briefs are written in plain everyday language, without jargon or unnecessary academic writing—the simpler and more practical, the better.
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” – Albert Einstein