Registering a company in Kenya

07.01.2025

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Price

from 3390 USD

Registration period in days: 21

Kenya is an independent country located in Eastern Africa on the Indian Ocean coast. Kenya is the main financial and trade center of the continent.

The territory, with an area of 582650 km², includes savannas, lakes, the Great Rift Valley and uplands.

If you are planning to register a company in Kenya and open an account with an African bank, note that:

Official languages are: English, Swahili.
A population is over 44 million people.
A currency is Kenyan shilling (1 USD is approximately 100 shillings).
The country is a member of COMESA, EAC.
The state neighbours are: Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania.

Tourism and the service sector are the main sources of income for the country. More than half of GDP comes from service industry. Therefore, registering a travel company in Kenya or opening a Kenyan trade company can be a good solution.

Popular types of business activities

If you want to set up a company in Kenya, we recommend you taking a closer look at the following options:

Registering a mining company in Kenya. The country is rich in minerals, but due to the predominance of agriculture in the economy, oil and gas deposits have not been discovered, and deposits of non-ferrous metals, soda, salt, fluorite, rubies and minerals are practically not developed;
It is profitable to set up an export company in Kenya and open a Kenyan agricultural company for cultivation of the flowers, coffee, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables, tea, corn and cereals are grown in the country;
Registering a farm in Kenya. A livestock is also well-developed;
Setting up a Kenyan production company. There are ship repair workshops, car assembly plants, salt factories, factories for the manufacture of textiles, batteries, cigarettes, alcohol and soap in Kenya. Also, you can open your business for printing industry, agro-processing, cement industry and oil production activities.

For more information, you can ask for qualified advice on a business registration process in Kenya and on opening an account for a company in Kenya from YB Case experts.

Legal forms & tax regime

Most investors choose to register an LLC in Kenya. The main reason for registering an LLC in Kenya (EPZ) is the presence of 7 export trade zones, in which there are 10-year tax holidays for a corporate tax, as well as the exemption from VAT on commodity imports (16% in other cases) and no stamp duty.

Legal form	Corporate tax	VAT	Minimum share capital
LLC	30%	16%	2 USD
Free Zone LLC	0%	16%	2 USD
PLC	30%	16%	97 000 USD
LLP	30%	16%	2 USD

In addition, you can open a branch in Kenya (a corporate tax rate is 37,5%).

To learn more, please request for individual advice on company registration procedure in Kenya from YB Case experts.

Business benefits

Setting up a Kenyan company and opening a corporate account with a Kenyan bank can be a profitable decision, according to the following:

Obtaining a license in Kenia takes up to 4 weeks;
Kenya has a well-developed export infrastructure;
Renting a premium office space in Kenya costs less than $ 11.5 per 1 m2;
Opening a company in Kenya will give you an opportunity to manage your financial flows remotely;
80% of Kenyans speak English;
Cheap workforce: the salary can be $ 40 a month;
Very cheap mobile communication and Internet.

How to open a bank account in Kenya

If you are interested in setting up a company in Kenya remotely and opening an account for a Kenyan company, then we recommend you ordering qualified advice on the selection of a banking institution to open an account in Kenya, and recommend you considering the following banks: