Registering a company to take just one day, says CS

PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI Participants during the opening of a four-day workshop on the implementation of World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements on trade facilitation at Green Hills Hotel in Nyeri on May 13, 2014.

What you need to know:

  • World Bank last year ranked Kenya at No. 129 on ease of doing business
  • The Cabinet Secretary for Industrialisation and Enterprise Development, Mr Adan Mohammed, said the ministry had almost completed plans to have businesses registered quickly.
  • Mr Mohammed said the ministry was working on being among the top 20 in the next five years when the various initiatives by the government that include the expansion of electricity grid by 5000MW and improvement of port, roads and railways are realised.

It will be possible to register a new business in one day, starting from next month.

The Cabinet Secretary for Industrialisation and Enterprise Development, Mr Adan Mohammed, said the ministry had almost completed plans to have businesses registered quickly.

“We have mapped out together with other government agencies and, in one to two months, it will be possible to register a business in 24 hours. We want over 100,000 businesses to be registered in a year but we are doing just a fraction of this,” he said.

Briefing the media on the plans the government is making to improve the business climate, he said President Kenyatta had given firm instructions to various government bodies to ensure potential investors can register their businesses in a much shorter time.

Registration of businesses currently takes more than 30 days.

He said the ongoing digitisation of land documents was part of the wider plan to ensure registration of property and businesses is made faster and easier.

EASE OF DOING BUSINESS

The World Bank last year ranked Kenya at No. 129 out of 186 countries globally on the ease of doing business, which was seven ranks below the 122nd position it held in 2013, indicating that the business climate had worsened.

Mr Mohammed said the ministry was working on being among the top 20 in the next five years when the various initiatives by the government that include the expansion of electricity grid by 5000MW and improvement of port, roads and railways are realised.

“Getting electricity is the greatest nightmare in this country. It is unacceptable that companies that want to set up manufacturing units have to wait for months. We want this to be done in seven days and, at most, 21 days,” he said.

The CS said Kenya was lagging behind its neighbours in attracting foreign direct investment as a result of some of the challenges that potential investors are faced with, adding that the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the national wealth had remained at nine per cent over several years.

He said this should be increased to 20 per cent to create more jobs.

However, Mr Mohammed warned that some new levies on businesses introduced by county governments could work against efforts to attract more investors.