<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_10716">Warm Greetings,</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_11379"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_11417">The topic sitting at the centre of this (taxation of start-ups) conversation is corruption and its tentacle effect.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_10759"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_10760">A forming, small or big business will pay its reasonable taxes when the return is fair and even enables the business to thrive more. Otherwise, especially for small (people) start-ups, the tax/levies is perceived as kunyanyasa watu wadogo.<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_10804"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_10805">What corruption breeds is that it gives unfair advantages to the bigger entities or more monied players who come into the industry (look around). This scares out the smaller businesses and the guys sitting on the sidelines mulling whether to register their business or not.<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_10857"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_11066" dir="ltr">The country is fueled through taxes (and other levies). Beyond the human potential not tapped, it is scary since the more the enterprises the more the potential for national development funds.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_11860" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_11919" dir="ltr">That aside, tax breaks and tax incentives or special concessions have been applied in Kenya. Is this currently happening in mining, tourism - to incentivise foreign and big players?? It means that it is possible for start-ups, not withstanding the size and ownership.<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_10850"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_11065">Blessed day.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_12416"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_12422">Regards/Wangari<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_10711"><span></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_12423"> </div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_12415" class="signature">---<br><font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_12425" style="font-weight:bold;font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;" size="2"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_12424" style="color:rgb(127, 0, 63);">Pray God Bless. 2013Wangari circa - </span><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1455130632668_12426" style="color:rgb(127, 0, 63);">"Being of the Light, We are Restored Through Faith in Mind, Body and Spirit; We Manifest The Kingdom of God on Earth".</span></font><br></div> <div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div style="display: block;" class="yahoo_quoted"> <div style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div dir="ltr"><font face="Arial" size="2"> On Wednesday, 10 February 2016, 21:58, Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:<br></font></div> <br><br> <div class="y_msg_container"><div id="yiv3700470496"><div><div dir="ltr">But Ahmed, how will we solve the problems without outlining them? The policy makers are here on the list waiting for us to give them the issues startups face, and possible solutions to the problem. </div>
<div class="yiv3700470496yqt2870958378" id="yiv3700470496yqt52886"><div class="yiv3700470496gmail_quote">On Feb 10, 2016 9:04 PM, "Ahmed Mohamed Maawy" <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:ultimateprogramer@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:ultimateprogramer@gmail.com">ultimateprogramer@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br clear="none"><blockquote class="yiv3700470496gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div dir="ltr"><div><div>Its not about being practical or not Mwendwa. I personally know a good number of people who have not registered businesses solely because of overheads. But maybe that may not the point here. There are a couple of things that we take for granted in this argument. The most important being the role of the government in developing SMEs in the country through incentives and other vehicles.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div>What Moses has raised is a concern that Australia has about supporting its local products. Frankly speaking the tech sector in Australia is as far advanced as it is in our dear country - we have not even talked about the strength of the economy in such a country to support a strong base of potential investors, who mind you, most are locals in Australia. The Indian case study outlines the story of a blooming Silicon Valley in India that the public sector is paying attention to in ways we are not even close with.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div>Question then is: How is this level play field going to look like?<br clear="none"></div><div class="yiv3700470496gmail_extra"><br clear="none"><div class="yiv3700470496gmail_quote">On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 8:57 PM, Mwendwa Kivuva <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:Kivuva@transworldafrica.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:Kivuva@transworldafrica.com">Kivuva@transworldafrica.com</a>></span> wrote:<br clear="none"><blockquote class="yiv3700470496gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div dir="ltr">Ahmed, On a practical note, I would wish to see a list of the taxes that hinder the growth of startups. That way, we may point to policy makers the impediments the next Google or Whatsapp in Kenya will face</div><div><div>
<div class="yiv3700470496gmail_quote">On Feb 10, 2016 8:27 PM, "Ahmed Mohamed Maawy" <<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:ultimateprogramer@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:ultimateprogramer@gmail.com">ultimateprogramer@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br clear="none"><blockquote class="yiv3700470496gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div dir="ltr"><div>I think we all understand how India is significantly ahead of us in matters technology. But still, read on: <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/pm-modis-big-push-for-startups-3-yr-tax-holiday-rs-10-000-crore-fund/1/572377.html">http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/pm-modis-big-push-for-startups-3-yr-tax-holiday-rs-10-000-crore-fund/1/572377.html</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div>I wish we were in any way close to this Mwendwa.<br clear="none"></div><div class="yiv3700470496gmail_extra"><br clear="none"><div class="yiv3700470496gmail_quote">On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 8:04 PM, Mwendwa Kivuva <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:lordmwesh@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:lordmwesh@gmail.com">lordmwesh@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br clear="none"><blockquote class="yiv3700470496gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div dir="ltr">Thanks Moses for this.</div>
<div dir="ltr">Allow us to hijack the thread.</div>
<div dir="ltr">Ahmed Maawy, what are these taxes you are talking about? Most governments have hundreds of taxes, considering even to bury someone attracts levies. I've heard this line of reasoning for a while. Maybe we can try to debunk it.</div>
<div dir="ltr">Regards </div>
</blockquote></div><br clear="none"><br clear="all"><br clear="none">-- <br clear="none"><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 clear="none">Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)<br clear="none">Ambassador - Open Knowledge<br clear="none">Director - Startup Grind Mombasa<br clear="none">Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer<br clear="none">(KE) +254 714 960 627<br clear="none">Skype: ultimateprogramer<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://swahilibox.co.ke/">swahilibox.co.ke</a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://okfn.org/">www.okfn.org</a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://startupgrind.com/"><span>startupgrind.com</span></a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://ajplus.net/">ajplus.net</a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://www.everylayer.com/">www.everylayer.com</a><br clear="none"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br clear="none"><br clear="all"><br clear="none">-- <br clear="none"><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 clear="none">Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)<br clear="none">Ambassador - Open Knowledge<br clear="none">Director - Startup Grind Mombasa<br clear="none">Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer<br clear="none">(KE) +254 714 960 627<br clear="none">Skype: ultimateprogramer<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://swahilibox.co.ke/">swahilibox.co.ke</a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://okfn.org/">www.okfn.org</a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://startupgrind.com/"><span>startupgrind.com</span></a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://ajplus.net/">ajplus.net</a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://www.everylayer.com/">www.everylayer.com</a><br clear="none"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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