Process Reform at
Business Registration Service
Process Reform at Business Registration Service
- Digitalization and Automation
- BRS resolved to move some of its services to the e-Citizen platform in line with the government policy of spreading outreach of service to the public on a digital platform to improve on efficiencies for the Ease of Doing Business Reforms.
- Currently, all new registrations of companies, business names and limited liability partnerships are done online. The electronic platform enables members of the public to make their applications online thus removing the need to physically present themselves at the BRS facilities or Huduma Centres in effect reducing the number of steps taken when registering a business entity which will improve the ease of doing business ranking for the country. BRS is currently undertaking company registrations within a 48 hour time period for the BRS portion of the registration period.
- Payment for the above services has also been moved to the Government Digital Payments system that affords a transparent and secure mode of revenue collection. This step has indeed seen a steady rise in revenue collection due to stemming of revenue leaks and an improvement in the processing of applications.
- Data Clean-Up in the Companies Registry
- Due to the aforementioned transformation of the Companies Act and in implementing the statutory mandate of maintaining registers, data and records on registries, the Service has introduced a process known as “link a business” as part of a records clean-up exercise and an audit trail. This will help eliminate the issue of missing files and reflection of wrong information to the Registry. The application is a free service done by the proprietor of a business, a director of a company or the company secretary. Link a business has further made the process of obtaining the “CR 12” easier since it has been automated.
- What “link a business” does for an individual who has already registered a business entity is to make sure his/her records are already up to date, enable easier access to the Registry and ensure that their records are protected against double registration, or fraudulent activities. The director or company secretary uploads the current status of the company as they know it. From the back end, the companies registry counter checks with the information they have in the registry and if it matches it is approved and uploaded into the system. If it not a match then the individual can visit the companies registry to verify the information and update the same accordingly.
- Link a business is contained on the e-citizen platform which provides access to government services to the common mwananchi on an online platform. To link a business, all one has to do is open an account on the e-citizen portal. Once the account is opened, the user should click on the link a business portal and follow the instructions on the page. Link a business can be done anywhere there is access to the internet.
- Development of a Functional and Technically Sound Collateral Registry
- The Electronic Collateral Registry is now a fully developed and functional registry that runs on the government’s service single sign-on platform of e-Citizen. To date, the registry has over 20,000 Initial Notices which have been lodged by various lenders with secured credit amounts running into billions of shillings. This is a positive indicator of improving access to credit in the economy which in turn improves the ease of doing business.
- BRS has made concerted efforts to reach out to the key stakeholders in the MPSR ecosystem, primarily the Kenya Bankers Association, the Law Society of Kenya, Leasing Association of Kenya, the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries and as well the formal and informal lenders to micro and small enterprises. In line with this, BRS has conducted five well-attended sensitization and training workshops.
- BRS conducted individualized training on the use of the electronic registry to specific banks that have made requests and are keen to come on board. Some of these are Barclays Bank of Kenya, Standard Chartered Bank, Equity Bank, Commercial Bank of Africa, NIC Bank and Diamond Trust Bank. BRS continues to conduct these individualized training on request. It has also developed an MPSR user manual and conveyed the same to the Stakeholders.