Register a company in Kenya, the eastern hub.

Yes - eCitizen incorporation, KRA registration and eTIMS onboarding run by power of attorney. Banks generally want one meeting with a director; work permits require presence. We sequence a Nairobi trip around the bank and any licence steps.

Turnkey registration starts from $2,900; with banking and M-Pesa rails from $4,900. EPZ, SEZ and CBK licences are scoped per project. Renewals with accounting run from $1,800 a year.

Standard: 30% corporate, VAT 16%, non-resident dividends 15%, and payroll with the stacked levies - housing and health - beside PAYE. Zones rewrite it: EPZ at zero for ten years, SEZ at 10%. Small companies can elect 3% turnover tax. The addendum: rules move annually with the Finance Act, so we build flexible and re-check yearly.

EPZ suits pure exporters: a ten-year corporate holiday, duty-free inputs, and the discipline of selling at least 80% abroad - the regime behind the garment and horticulture base. SEZ is the modern, broader track: 10% for a decade, 15% the next, domestic-market access on normal duties, and sites from Naivasha to Mombasa. Export-only models lean EPZ; mixed models lean SEZ. We model both before you commit.

Professionally aggressive: mandatory eTIMS e-invoicing means every sale reports in real time, audits follow data trails, and withholding obligations are enforced with interest. This punishes improvisation and rewards clean systems - which is why our accounting is built eTIMS-first from the day of incorporation. Well-kept books make the KRA a process, not a threat.

That Kenya skipped cards: mobile money is universal - consumers, suppliers, salaries, taxes all move through it - and any consumer-facing model must integrate from day one, which our banking setup includes. For fintech builders, the CBK licenses payment providers and lenders on real criteria; the rails are mature, the market sophisticated, and the bar accordingly professional.

Concentration: the region's flights, funds, embassies, UN agencies and multinational HQs sit in Nairobi, so regional hiring, partnerships and client meetings happen where you are. Running Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda or Ethiopia operations from a Nairobi base is the established pattern - the EAC common market makes the goods side work, and the talent pool makes the services side work.

The shilling slid for years, then stabilised and recovered after 2024's turn; debt service still shadows fiscal policy, which is precisely why budgets reach for new levies annually. Treasury practice: dollar balances alongside shillings, export legs where the model allows, and payroll costed at real levy rates. Kenya's macro is manageable - for those who price it rather than hope.

A few: private security is Kenyan-owned, agricultural land near borders carries limits, and some licensed activities have carried local-equity rules that reform rounds keep trimming. Most services, manufacturing, tech and trade take 100% foreign ownership without comment. We screen your exact activity against current rules before structuring.

The company: one to three weeks through eCitizen. Banking and M-Pesa: one to three more. Zone licences: three to twelve weeks by track. Work permits: candidly slow - six to twelve weeks with a proper file. A working, banked Kenyan hub inside six weeks, with permits maturing behind, is the standing default.