<div dir="ltr"><div>@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?</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature">-Billy</div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">2016-02-04 13:08 GMT+03:00 Ahmed Mohamed Maawy via kictanet <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>></span>:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">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.<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Thu, Feb 4, 2016 at 10:24 AM, Ted Ogonda via kictanet <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>></span> wrote:<br></div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">Listers,<div><br></div><div>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. </div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Ted Ogonda,</div><div>Regional Manager, Systems Engineering - Cisco East Africa & The Maghreb</div><div><br><div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div><div>On Feb 3, 2016, at 1:43 PM, Rad! via kictanet <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:</div><br></div></div><div><div><div><div dir="ltr">Move value and impact i think would arise of the issue was making doing business easier, and not just registration.<div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 11:35 AM, Michael Pedersen via kictanet <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div>Hi Everyone,<br>
<br>
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".<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
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. <br>
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)<br>
<br>
<br>
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.<br>
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.<br>
<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
..<br>
Mike<span><br>
<br>
<br>
On 2/1/16 3:03 PM, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy via kictanet wrote:<br>
</span></div><span>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr"><br>
<ol>
<li>How to make the business registration process a bit less
hectic.</li>
<li>Tax breaks for some amount of time during which they
operate to pick up business and traction around this.</li>
</ol><p>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.<br>
</p>
<div>
<div>There is a pipeline issue for potential startups here
that needs to be resolved, but how can we work together
around this?<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
</span></div>
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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.<br>
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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.<br></span></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><span class=""><br>-- <br><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><b>Ahmed Maawy</b><br>Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)<br>Ambassador - Open Knowledge<br>Director - Startup Grind Mombasa<br>Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer<br>(KE) +254 714 960 627<br>Skype: ultimateprogramer<br><br><a href="http://swahilibox.co.ke" target="_blank">swahilibox.co.ke</a><br><a href="http://okfn.org/" target="_blank">www.okfn.org</a><br><a href="http://startupgrind.com" target="_blank"><span>startupgrind.com</span></a><br><a href="http://ajplus.net" target="_blank">ajplus.net</a><br><a href="http://www.everylayer.com/" target="_blank">www.everylayer.com</a><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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