Ease of Doing Business in Kenya: Incentives by KNCCI to Support Micro and Small Enterprises

Samuel Matonda, CEO of Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, talks about the ease of doing business in Kenya and mentions some incentives taken by KNCCI to support micro and small enterprises (MSMEs).

“The National Chamber of Commerce and Industry issues the ordinary certificate of origin, which we have been doing manually, meaning it could take up to seven days to process because of the intensity and the workload. We are now issuing them through digital means. That has really decreased the length of the process. Within 20 minutes, you are able to register, and within an hour you get your certificate of origin. Unless there are some other countries that require a stamped copy of the certificate of origin, those are the ones that may take a day for us to get the certificate of origin ready. We have really enhanced the service delivery. When the pandemic hit, we had discussions with the government and we waved the fees for tea exports, which was to be in operation for a year. It now reverts back to the same because the sector has now come back and it is not struggling the way it was. That was very key because it was sensitive to our members and they were able to get the services, but we did not charge them any of the fee that they were paying earlier. Those are some of the incentives. Of course, in order for us to enhance the ease of doing business, we have been advocating against the double taxation. We have been at the forefront enhancing or discussing with the government about infrastructure development, whereby movement of goods from the port of Mombasa all the way to the Western and to other East African and Central African countries has been enhanced. That is also because of our intervention as the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry”, says Samuel Matonda.

“Lastly, we have been advocating for a favorable position for startups which have been our niche as a business membership organization, because 80% of our members are micro and small enterprises, and most of those are startups. Most of those startups might not have been able to survive during the pandemic. That is why we worked with some agencies and some donors who gave us some fund to give to the startups and the micro enterprises to cushion them during the pandemic. It was a revolving fund which was to the tune of 500 million Kenya shillings. That was our role to ensure that our MSMEs and our members largely did not suffer during the pandemic”, he adds.

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