Q&A for How to Register a Company in Kenya

With the introduction of the Company Act 2015, it only requires a minimum of 1 director. Company director must be 18 years old or over. To start trading in Kenya, you need to register your company with Company Registry and then register with Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

If the PIN you are referring to is the KRA PIN Certificate, you visit the nearest KRA support centre or Huduma Centre with your Certificate of Incorporation and a valid email address. The reason you need the email address is because the business PIN is not processed immediately like the individual PIN. It is sent to the email address you provide upon approval.

Yes, it is legal to use your home address as long as the home is in the same country as your business.

You create an account at the government services website ecitizen.go.ke. Then you go to the Attorney General section, where you do first a name search. After a successful name search and registration, you need to start another application, which is the company registration. You need the number from the name search for that. Fill in the forms online.

This is the date when you would like to start your business. This must be at least a day after the date you are submitting your application. Preferably one week later.

Stamp Duty is 1% of nominal capital + KSh 2,020, as declared in your Memorandum and Articles of Association. So, a 100,000 shilling capital would incur 1,000 + 2,020 shilling Stamp Duty, for a total of 3,020 shillngs.

The Attorney General's office maintains the companies register. His/Her section in the ecitizen.go.ke is the route to take to register a company.

Yes, you can. Check with the local authorities for the process of buying a company in Kenya.

A certificate of registration is a license that allows the owners to operate or run their businesses.A certificate of incorporation is issued after incorporation where the business becomes a separate legal entity .

Look for a PIN (kra). This will only be processed after you have your company fully registered.

One director means it's a sole proprietorship. It will comply if you state that it has 1 director.

It is system generated and approved by the government. it's sufficient for you to start off. You can now explore your county requirements for permit and licenses.

This shouldn't be very difficult. An agent is this case someone to help you through the steps.

The issue dealing with shareholding and the number of directors of the company are matters that can be change during the annual general meeting of the shareholders through a special resolution to alter the articles of association, which is the constitution of the company.

It may be that some part of your application was incorrectly filled out, or that the name you chose for your business was too similar to an existing company's name. Get in touch with the Business Registration Service and find out why they rejected your registration.

Yes, there is a minimum amount of capital. Your business must declare that it has at least Kes. 2,140.

No. While many of the registration components can be completed online (through eCitizen), you still need to send several paper-copy documents in to the Kenyan Registrar’s office.

Yes, its a must for a company limited by shares to have shares. The only other way out is registering a different form of a company, say one limited by guarantee.

The amount of time this takes can vary. After submitting the completed forms with the mandatory registration fee, you may need to wait for a period of about 1 week to 21 days.

It should cost about ksh. 13,940 that's if the shares are worth 2000 and go to one person. If it's 100 per document meaning ID 100, Personal KRA Pin 100, then have ksh. 13,940 and if it's 100 per shareholder, then it's about ksh. 13,040.