HOW TO REGISTER A BUSINESS IN KENYA

Kenya has been listed as one of the most unfriendly countries to register a business in. This has some truth in it given the numerous unnecessary forms one has to fill and trips one has to make to Sheria house; running name searches and the long period of time businessmen have to wait before their applications can be processed.
It took me  about one month to finally get a successful name-search. I wonder how long it would take if the registrar of companies would put all the registered names in an online database and allow us to run name-searches remotely without having to endure the agony of the queues at Sheria House. This would however reduce the revenue streams to Sheria house; seeing as they charge 100 shillings per name in your search. Maybe this dissuades them from embracing technology in this age of facebook and twitter.
A different route would be to use a lawyer. This is a route which I would not recommend for a small start-up. I think lawyers are grossly overpaid to do mundane tasks. Tasks which they often delegate to their messengers and bill us to high-heavens. However, if you are an anti-walking small business or a huge tycoon, I highly recommend that you engage an advocate. This will reduce the amount of time you spend exercising along the corridors of sheria house. You could also grab a beer or a game of golf while your lawyer's messenger rides his bike through the capital.
 Enough with the bickering: this is how you register a business in this republic:

• Get a name:- This is highly important, actually get a couple of names: say five because your first name-search will seldom yield a good result.  For the sake of example lets assume that we will name our business. 'Njugu- Kamande enterprises' since we are suppliers of Njugu-Kamande. Note that this is not gmail, if your name is not available, no hints will be given on available names. This will cost you time, but anyway what is a few months to an entrepreneur? Each name on your search costs you Ksh.100
• After running name-searches for several weeks, we finally get an approval to use Njugu-Kamande Enterprises as our business name. This gives us a temporary reservation of that name for a period of 30 days pending registration of that name. In this period the name will be unavailable in any other search. However if the period lapses, the name is up for grabs.
• You will then have to furnish the registrars office with your company's Memorandum and Articles of Association, these have to be filed and a stamp duty paid upon filing. The charges for registering a company vary depending on the registered share capital or some other criteria which I'm unaware of.
• If you are only registering as a sole-proprietor, the charges for registering are Ksh.800 after filling a Statement of Particulars 
• After getting your Certificate of incorporation for companies or Certificate of registration for Sole proprietors and partnerships, Kindly take a stroll down to Mama Ngina street and there you will find the dreaded City Council of Nairobi. Depending on your type of business and the size of your premises, they will decide what to charge you for your Business Permit. Fear not, for the permit is only annual, thus you have an incentive to work hard all year to get money to pay up on the following year.
• You might need some other licenses along the way and failure to pay them will often land you in trouble. As an entrepreneur, you need to develop a thick skin and a good pair of limbs to endure the registration process in Kenya; but at the end of the day, it is a worthwhile adventure.

P.S. Sheria house is located along Harambee avenue. Right opposite the great building of Parliament.