Any entrepreneur will tell you that the secret to building a successful business is doing business in an all-weather regime and environment.
Such a business regimen should be indemnified from the vagaries of bad ‘weather’, whether they be meteorological, financial or political.
A real entrepreneur does not rest until he or she crosses the breakthrough threshold. And speaking of breakthroughs, Kenya is experiencing one of her own in the business environment. Kenya’s standing improved 21 places in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2017 Report and she was ranked the third most reformed country in the world. Let’s take a look at what has gone right.
Remember the days when the process of registering a business in Kenya was an expensive and time-consuming exercise? Recall when registration of property was a migraine of gigantic proportions that involved camping out in various offices from the early hours of the morning, lost files, and subtle requests for chai from nefarious officials. Lengthy procedures burdened the entrepreneur not just from the get-go, but also in the process of paying taxes, and the cost of levies like EIA and NCA finished the job.
My two favourite reforms in this area, hands down, are the Huduma Centres and the consolidated permit application platform. In Nairobi, for instance, you can now apply for a single business permit, fire clearance certificate, advertising signage, and health certificate and food hygiene online, from the comfort of your home or office instead of gallivanting across the city multiple times.
The Huduma Centres, which are reportedly serving 40,000 Kenyans a day, provide many more services, including NHIF and NSSF registration. That’s two more offices Kenyans have been spared from queuing in. The one service I’m looking forward to most is the digitization of the land registry.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 396,000 MSMEs were registered in 2016, which means more economic activity and more employment.
Another of my favourite advances is the requirement to use 40 per cent local content in all public projects. For those who are unfamiliar with this requirement, it came into law in 2015 through the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act. This is pure genius – a means to help Kenyans benefit from building Kenya.
I’m most looking forward to the complete recovery of our tourist industry (and I know many are with me on this) and it’s soaring to even greater heights. KNBS tells us that 1,307,351 tourists came into the country via JKIA and Moi International Airport in 2016, a 10 per cent increase from the previous year. With the improved security situation, and with tax incentives such as the waiver of landing fees for charter aircraft to the Kenyan Coast, there’s hope for this industry.
One issue that has historically plagued Kenyan business is the state of our roads. There’s still work to be done, but the completed work and the work-in-progress is encouraging. Not just business transporters but all road users know the impact that the already completed bypasses have had on easing congestion in and around the cities and major towns.
Then of course there’s the new standard gauge railway line, connecting Nairobi and Mombasa. The passenger train has in recent days caused some excitement because it cuts the travel time more or less in half. It will no doubt have a positive impact on domestic tourism, but perhaps the greatest impact will be from the cargo trains transporting goods between the two cities, keeping in mind that Mombasa is the largest port in East Africa and the doorway, not just to Kenya, but to her landlocked neighbours as well.
Even more significant is that the railway line will eventually connect Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan, with branch lines to major towns along the way such as Kisumu.
The railway is great for business, cutting freight costs, reducing the wear and tear on our roads and improving road safety, not to mention the 30,000-plus jobs that come with it.
Unquestionably, what’s good for business is good for the economy. All the great advances are not just helping business grow; they’re growing the economy exponentially.
Wangari is a nominated Senator