Company registration in Kenya takes ages but the government aims to end this menace by today launching a mobile registration at the State Law Office.
The new mobile service *271# is open for business registration, registration of marriages and registration of societies. Users dial *271# then choose among the three options they want. For those that want to register companies, they have options to search for names, track registration, confirm directors then continue with the service.
Charged at Ksh 100 to M-PESA Pay Bill number 945050, the process is expected to reduce journeys to offices which are associated with long queus and corruption. The service will be linked to one’s Income tax, ID or birth certificate to track which is expected to help law enforcement offices curb coruption, collect taxes among others.
The service is at the moment powered by Safraicom and will be introduced to other mobile networks soon. The service is also expected to reduce the amount of time used to collect stamp duty (via Posta Pay) and company registeration from 14 days to 24 hours. The service piloted at at the Companies Registry the government says it will be extended to all Huduma Centres.
Present at the launch, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the payment of stamp duty and registration fees will be paid as at once to make work easier for the Registrar of Companies who can now stamp and register company registration documents at once. The move will also help the youth register companies fast and compete for government contracts, of which 30 percent are set aprt for them.
“We want thirty percent of all government procurements to go to our young people and women. That cannot happen if it is difficult for our young people to register a company, a partnership and a business. We need them to be able to access this so that they can take advantage of the opportunities before them,” Kenyatta said.