If you are willing to pay, when you start the sign up process you will be presented with these 3 options to open an account paying, it shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes and 3 to 5 Steem, If you can afford to pay, Don't despair! head over to steem.chat and i'm pretty sure someone will help you out to sign up your friend as fast as possible!

As of now I'm now aware of anyone using the new RC system to open up accounts but the initial idea was supposed to be that the Steem Dapps with huge stakes leverage the system to their favor and sign up as many users as possible with their stakes! I'm sure that eventually every dapp will use it but for now, these are your alternatives! I hope this helps you out in your quest to enroll your friend into Steem!