Kenya's regulatory reforms boost small enterprises: official

Kenya's micro and small enterprises are benefiting from a raft of regulatory and competitive reforms introduced by the government to spur investments, officials said on Tuesday.

Industrialization and Enterprise Development ministry said in Nairobi that the sector is receiving a new lease of life amidst elimination of unnecessary procedures and processes around business operations in key economic indicators.

Adan Mohamed, Cabinet Secretary for Industrialization and Enterprise Development, said the reforms will serve to position Kenya as an ideal destination for investment, and critical for job creation.

"The reforms in specific economic indicators are heralding good tidings for ease of doing business reforms, and setting a foundation for the sustainable development of the private sector and creating a competitive and diversified economy in the long term," Mohamed said during the release of a report in Nairobi.

The report identifies cross-cutting reforms under starting a business, getting electricity and credit, registering property, construction permit and trading across borders rank as among the most influential indicators impacting the private sector.

Investors in Kenya can now take only a day to register their business, file taxes electronically and access both regional and international markets easily, thanks to favorable business reforms and policies initiated by the government and private sector.

These and other factors have seen the country's ease of doing business improve slightly by a single digit from last year's 137 to 136 this year, according to the 2015 Ease of Doing Business index report released recently.

Mohammed said the new development is a positive verification of public and private sector efforts to transform the country's investment climate.

He said while there's more work to be done, the process of registering a business in Kenya now takes 12 days down from 32 days while it takes about 75 days to connect electricity for a business premise down from 158 days.

"One of the remedies to reduce business processes has been simplifying procedures automating processes to enable small businesses obtain single permits by allowing self-declaration by applicants while eliminating the requirement for a declaration of compliance," said Mohammed.

He added that the government was keen to improve its global rankings by upon implementing key reforms to improve the investment climate. Endi