Company Registration in Kenya for Foreign Investors

We advise on the right vehicle and shareholding before filing, including the sector-specific ownership rules that apply in a handful of industries and the consequence, often missed, that a company with any foreign shareholder cannot hold freehold land in Kenya, only leasehold. We then incorporate through the Business Registration Service, complete the beneficial ownership filings the Companies Act requires, obtain the company’s tax registration, and attend to the appointments a foreign-owned company must make, including the Kenya-resident contact person required where the company has no local director or qualified secretary, a requirement that carries continuing penalties and that most new entrants discover only when it is already costing them. We introduce the company to bankers, obtain the national and county licences its business needs, and, where the investors or their staff will work in Kenya, run the work permit applications alongside so the people arrive when the company is ready for them.

The shareholders and directors and their identification documents, the intended business and where it will operate, and the funding plan for the company. We tell you at the outset exactly what each person must supply, in what form, so documents are gathered once.