Doing Business in Kenya
Doing Business in Kenya 2010 compares business regulations across 11 Kenyan localities. The report focuses on local and national regulations that affect 4 stages in the life of a small- or mid-sized domestic enterprise: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, and enforcing contracts. The report shows that differences in local regulations and in the enforcement of national-level regulations can enhance or constrain local business activity. These findings suggest that localities in Kenya can learn from each other and adopt good practices that are already working within the country.
Doing Business in Kenya 2010 is the first subnational report on the country. Although there are differences in the number of procedures, time, and cost to do business in Kenya, some localities already perform up to international standards. If a hypothetical city, "Kenyana", were to adopt the best practices already in place in Kenya, its ranking would improve in all four areas of regulation that are the focus of this study, putting "Kenyana" in 78th place among the 183 economies measured in the global Doing Business report (table 2). That is 17 positions better than Kenya’s current global rank (represented by Nairobi).
Main findings:
- Narok, Malaba and Thika lead the overall ranking on the four indicators measured in the report. Isiolo, Nairobi and Kilifi lag behind other localities (table 1).
- One of the reasons it takes longer to start a business in Kenyan localities is the many steps required: 3 more than the Sub-Saharan Africa regional average and 3 times as many as in Senegal. Starting a business is fastest and least expensive in Nairobi at 34 days and 36% of income per capita. It is slowest in Narok with 81 days, while in Malaba, the cost is almost twice as high as in Nairobi.
- The process to obtain construction-related permits and clearances is easiest in Narok, Nyeri and Malaba, but more cumbersome in Isiolo, Thika and Mombasa. Obtaining all permits to build a warehouse and hook it up to utilities takes less than 70 days in Narok, making it the 15th fastest location worldwide, the same as Denmark.
- Registering property is fastest in Mombasa, where it takes 23 days (figure 1). In Isiolo, a special transfer tax levied by the County Council makes registering property almost as expensive as in the Syrian Arab Republic, the world’s most expensive place to register property.
- Resolving a commercial dispute is speedy in Malaba, because the courts in Bungoma, where these are heard, are strict on adjournments. As a result, the 11 months needed to enforce a contract in Malaba are less than the OECD average (15.5 months).
 |
 |
Doing Business in Kenya 2010 - Full report (