How to register a Company in Kenya

Once you have selected a suitable business idea to venture in, it is in order to register in form of business name or company. This would formalize everything including getting funding for the business. Good enough it’s easy to register a company in Kenya.

Before registration services went online, the process to register company in Kenya was not easy. The whole process would take you several months or even a year in situations where you did not have proper documentation. But that is not the case nowadays.

The simplified process is attributed to the introduction of e-services and the entire process happens through the e-citizen portal. Thanks to technological advancement and accessibility by large populations.

Registration services, though simplified, require certain documents without which you may not do it to completion.

Documents required to register company in Kenya

1. Proposed company name

This is the pillar step for register a company in Kenya. It happens at the early stage of the process, where you submit suggested names( around three) for review to the companies registrar. While doing this, you fill in all the required information about the business and ownership. Be sure to attach all required documents at this step.

1. Objectives of the company i.e., what it intends to do.
2. Name of the directors and their particulars
3. Passport photos
4. Identification documents like national ID and passports
5. KRA pins for the directors from Kenya Revenue Authority.
6. CR8 form

The document has the residential addresses of all directors and details of the company whether public, limited, or unlimited. It also states some other information like whether the company has its articles, or it will adopt. Liability of members, share capital, and details of company ownership structure and acquisition or amalgamation are also described in the document. These are key documents needed to register a company in Kenya.

1. CR1 form

This is a form required for registering a company limited by shares, unlimited or guarantee. It has details of the authorized signatory of the company, directors, and secretary. Similarly, shows share capital, number of shares, and a class of shares. Importantly to note is that for a company to have a secretary, it must have a nominal capital of at least sh.500,000.

1. CR2

This form is the memorandum of association of the company and it has details of each subscriber. It shows the value of each subscriber.

1. Statement of nominal capital

This is a document that carries the company’s nominal capital, number of shares, and price of each share.

Once these documents are ready you need sh.10,750 for registration (at the time of writing this article). The beauty of the process is that you can fill in some of the documents as you get along.

After all these, you wait for feedback from the registrar of the company for amendments in case there is any. If there is nothing to change, then you get a notification for ready certificate of registration which you can download. This shows that you have successfully completed the process of company registration in Kenya.

Final Word

Armed with above documents, you can easily register a company in Kenya. For those who may not have sufficient time to do all these tasks, you can identify firms that do that services. My good friend Patel Business Consultants is very good at it.