Here is how to register a freelance business in Kenya in 3 easy steps.
Business registration in Kenya has been made easier and fast thanks to the government’s eCitizen initiative.
You can now conduct a name search and even register your freelance business all in the comfort of your sofa. Actually, beginning 15th October 2017, all manual registration of businesses was done away with by the registrar of companies.
I highly recommend that those starting out in self-employment as freelancers first register their business as a sole proprietorship and then once things pick up, they can upgrade to a company.
What's Covered in This Article
1. Log into your eCitizen account
If you don’t have one, simply create one by clicking on create an account.
Once logged in (with your ID number or e-mail), select Business Registration Service.
2. Conduct a name search
Once you are on the Business Registration Service page, click on Make Application.
This will take you to another section where you will select option 2, Business Name Registration.
In this next step, you will need to choose from the drop down list, the type of business you want to register together with your preferred business name, and description of the business (i.e. is it a freelance writing business, is it a digital marketing business, etc).
If say you want to register as a sole proprietorship or partnership, you should select Business Name Registration. But if you want to register a Company then choose the option that best describes your company e.g. private limited, public limited, limited by guarantee, etc.
Once you have finished filling in your business details, click continue. This leads you to a page where you should confirm correctness of the information you have provided.
Once confirmed, click on finish.
3. Pay for name search
This leads you to the next page where you select your preferred payment method and pay for the name search. Once payment is successfully received, a name search is processed within a day (Monday to Friday between 8am to 5pm excluding public holidays).
Kindly note that you can only submit one name at a time.
4. Register Business
- Fill in the Bn2-Statement-of-ParticularsRegistration form.
- Upload your ID card/passport, KRA PIN certificate and recent colored passport photographs.
- Pay for the business registration certificate.
- Wait for about a week and your business registration certificate will be available for download from your eCitizen account.
Applicable Costs
- Name search – KES. 150
- Partnership and Sole proprietorship – KES. 1,000
- Company registration – KES. 10,650
