[kictanet] More support for springing startups

Mon Feb 8 13:00:00 EAT 2016

@Ted I wouldn't look at it that way. This is not about giving them free
reign - it is about lowering the barriers to entry and allowing them to
find their footing. If we look at things from your perspective then maybe
startups should also not be given loans since they might not be able to pay
them back?

Startups are largely about experimenting and it's hard enough getting your
business off the ground without having to worry about additional legal/tax
hurdles. I believe it's about making entrepreneurship and business creation
more attractive to potential entrepreneurs not about doing them favours.

-Billy

2016-02-04 13:08 GMT+03:00 Ahmed Mohamed Maawy via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>:

> Its an interesting point of view, which is true. The idea is that the
> start-up stages of business are the most complicated and critical stages in
> a business and can determine whether it does stabilize or not. Hence the
> initial tax breaks, which are present in more established economies in the
> world. Kenya will not be the first. The more we support early stage
> start-ups the more we create a productive economy.
>
> On Thu, Feb 4, 2016 at 10:24 AM, Ted Ogonda via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>> Listers,
>>
>> Allow me to offer a divergent view. Whereas I’m a agreeable to easing the
>> process of registering and more so doing business, I think that tax and any
>> other financial breaks is not sustainable and could be counterproductive,
>> ultimately. The viability of a business rests in the full monetary and
>> fiscal compliance. If these components are not factored into the books from
>> day one, then the bottom line will not reflect the true viability of the
>> business and when introduced at a later stage, the business will struggle
>> to remain afloat.
>>
>> I’d suggest we think of how the government can help innovators transition
>> to entrepreneurs by gaining some business acumen including full compliance
>> to fiscal policies.
>>
>> Ted Ogonda,
>> Regional Manager, Systems Engineering -  Cisco East Africa & The Maghreb
>>
>> On Feb 3, 2016, at 1:43 PM, Rad! via kictanet <
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>
>> Move value and impact i think would arise of the issue was making doing
>> business easier, and not just registration.
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 11:35 AM, Michael Pedersen via kictanet <
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>
>>> Personally I think this focus on "making easy to register a business" is
>>> misplaced, the focus should instead be on making easier "having a business".
>>> Annoying as the registration process may be, it is only a one-off
>>> process once it's done it will not bother you again - whereas the processes
>>> you have to complete on a monthly, quarterly, yearly introduces overhead
>>> time and time again.
>>>
>>> My favorite example is ofcourse all the monthly statutory payments,
>>> NSSF, NHIF, KRA, NITA, etc all have their own individual process. Each
>>> institution have their own process, their own collection procedure, their
>>> own queue's. You can easily spend several hours completing a monthly return
>>> - for each of them.
>>> Why can't they work together so that you go to ONE place and perform ONE
>>> payment, then they could split the collections between them self.
>>> A few years back it was announced that KRA would start becoming a
>>> collection point for NSSF, this was a step in the right direction. The day
>>> before it was supposed to go into effect it was announced that it was
>>> postponed due to the IT-systems not being compatible.... (the inital iTax
>>> version even had a non-working button for it)
>>>
>>>
>>> Second example would be the requirements for nil-returns, often when you
>>> see someone registering a new company they are quite "green" in terms of
>>> what their obligations are, there is a learning curve to climb. Often you
>>> find startup's in a situation where they had been caught unaware about the
>>> need to file nil-returns, and the business activities they had planned is
>>> delayed for whatever reason.
>>> Why is it even necessary to file a nil return (?), could it not be
>>> assumed that if nothing else is filed then it's a nil-return... Yes there
>>> are practical (and maybe legal) reasons but it really should be possible to
>>> work around this and make it unnecessary to file nil-returns.
>>>
>>>
>>> On the bright side the new company act removes the need to have an
>>> official company secretary to do your annual legal return - that is a clear
>>> improvement for startups and helps reduce the overall overhead.
>>>
>>> ..
>>> Mike
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/1/16 3:03 PM, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy via kictanet wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>    1. How to make the business registration process a bit less hectic.
>>>    2. Tax breaks for some amount of time during which they operate to
>>>    pick up business and traction around this.
>>>
>>> Having managed the eco-system in Mombasa for a while, I think you end up
>>> finding potential kids and other chaps having ideas, but who can not enter
>>> into some contests or can not be eligible to enroll to specific support
>>> frameworks because of their lack of a business registration certificate.
>>> Which is sad, to see such potential go all the way down the drain because
>>> of financial or other constraints.
>>> There is a pipeline issue for potential startups here that needs to be
>>> resolved, but how can we work together around this?
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
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>
>
>
> --
> *Ahmed Maawy*
> Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)
> Ambassador - Open Knowledge
> Director - Startup Grind Mombasa
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> (KE) +254 714 960 627
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>
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> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
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