Register that business fast

The registration of businesses in Kenya is easier and faster since the introduction of the eCitizen official digital payments platform, which enables access and payment for government services online. One can now do a name search and even register their business fully online on the platform.

For you to use the eCitizen platform, you need to have registered on it, which is a simple process. Once you log in, select Business Registration Service. Once you are in the Business Registration Service, click on Make Application. It will take you to a section where you will click on Business Name Registration. In the next step, you will need to choose the type of business you want to register plus your preferred business name.

If say you want to register a sole proprietorship or partnership, then choose Business Name Registration. If you want to register Private Limited Company, choose that option and so on. A name search is processed within a day and only one name can be submitted at a time. It is processed from Monday to Friday between 8am to 5pm, excluding public holidays.

Once the business name has been approved, you can then register your business. The name search approval is not communicated via email so you have to keep checking the eCitizen website. The different costs incurred in the process are: Name search – Sh150; Company registration – Sh10,650; Partnership and Sole proprietorship – Sh1, 000. For company registration, fill company registration form CR1 then, fill details of directors and shareholders and upload scanned copies of national identity card or passport, Kenya revenue Authority PIN certificate and recent colour passport photograph. Directors and shareholders have to be registered on the iTax platform. Fill shareholding details. Fill a notification of directors’ residential address on form CR8. Finally, fill the statement of nominal capital.

Note that you can now register a company with one person as both the shareholder and director.