New entrepreneurs onboarding centre key to economic growth

Entrepreneurs, be they investors, traders or industrialists, are crucial catalysts of economic progress. They create jobs and drive productivity. Therefore, supporting and empowering them is fundamental to unlocking the full potential of economies and sustaining growth.

Recently, the Investments, Trade and Industry Ministry set up the Karibu Business Support Centre (KBSC) to enhance the ease of doing business in Kenya. The centre is situated at the 16th floor of the ministry's headquarters in the NSSF building in Nairobi’s Community area.

The investors, traders and industrialists we onboard aren’t necessarily outsiders. In fact, we are particularly keen on empowering our very own local entrepreneurs to build businesses in the country and take full advantage of such initiatives as Special Economic Zones across multiple locations across Kenya.

To achieve that goal, we found it necessary to create a clearinghouse that provides critical information while shortening the enterprise set-up journey, thus the KBSC initiative. This strategy ropes players way beyond the bounds of the ministry and creates linkages with significant nodes that complete the overall web required for a complete entrepreneur onboarding.

But what does KBSC offer entrepreneurs specifically?

First off, KBSC is a one-stop information centre where crucial information on requisite entrepreneur onboarding processes, procedures and practices are notified and well elaborated. By centralising information and processes, a clearinghouse such as KBSC will promote transparency and allow entrepreneurs to better understand the regulatory landscape and requirements.

Without this as an opening gambit, interested entrepreneurs serially walked into endless and discouraging mazes in the past. The new KBSC-driven regimen will lead to a less time-consuming engagement.

Secondly, KBSC will reduce red tape-related encumbrances given that entrepreneur onboarding will henceforth be orchestrated from a perch with a bird’s eye view of an entire exercise. It will also reduce the administrative rigmarole of setting up enterprises and encourage more investors, traders and manufacturers—both local and international—to come aboard. With straightforward and standardised documentation, KBSC will expedite the approval processes, reducing delays in launching new businesses.

Thirdly, it is prudent to provide entrepreneurs with easy access to a centralised repository of guides, templates and details of the entire slew of support services required for the smooth navigation of the start-up and subsequent operational support.

Simplifying processes and cutting down bureaucracy-related hitches will translate into cost saving for entrepreneurs, enabling them to allocate resources more efficiently. Such are the incentives KBSC envisages for the next generation of entrepreneurs in Kenya.

Rebecca Miano is Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industry in Kenya.