How To Start A General Supplies Company In Kenya

Before starting a general supplies business, you need to perform a market research to help you find out if there is a market for your business idea. This is important so that you can save money and time before starting your business.

Here is an overview of things you’ll need to cover to register your business to the point of starting to supply your product or service to your client(s).

I) Research Your Business Idea

It is crucial to check the viability of your business before you get started. As an entrepreneur, you need to find out estimates of costs of running a supply business and also money that can be made from sales in the business. You’ll need to find out about the demand and supply of your product or service in your industry by carrying out some research.

In our business coaching program, we usually help business to identify their competitors, finding what their customer is willing to spend for the product or service, identifying the customer, developing strong cash flow structure that will help the entrepreneur see if they can afford to run such a business or if they need to financing to meet the orders – for example, LPO financing.

II) Naming Your Business

When writing down your company name suggestions, you need to take into consideration the perception the name has. We always recommend our customers to have at least two (2) company names. This will help during the name search process because it will increase the chances of at least one company name being available for use. You will also need to take into consideration on whether someone else is using that name in another country. You can simply try and Google the name and see if anything comes up. You will also need to check the availability of domain name on that company name – for example, companyname.com, companyname.co.ke.

III) Choosing Your Legal Entity

When planning to register your business, you will need to know what type of business entity you want to use for your business.

• How To Register A Sole Proprietor Business (one person)
• How To Register A Partnership Business (minimum 2 people)
• How To Register A Limited Company (minimum 1 director, maximum 7 directors)
• Upgrade Sole Proprietor Business to Limited Company
• Upgrade Partnership Business to Limited

IV) Getting Registered

Once you have selected the business entity that you would like to use, you will proceed to perform the name search at Huduma Center. This process usually takes around 1-2 working days (depending on their workload).

If you have opted to register a limited company, you’ll need to collect some requirements that will be used prepare the Memorandum & Article of Association documents.

Here is some of the information that you will need to gather;

• Company information – such as company name suggestions, nature of the business, the location of business (home or office).
• Directors information – such as fullnames, postal address, occupation, share allocation
• Proof of identity documents – Copy of ID/Passport for each director (Front & Back-side), Copy of KRA PIN Certificate for each director and Passport Photo for each director.

See Also: Memorandum & Article of Association Explained

IMPORTANT! We currently only register a limited company at the moment. If you are looking to register sole proprietorship and partnership business, we recommend that you visit Huduma Center for further assistance.

Please note that the entire process can take up-to 2 weeks or less once you have signed all documentation needed for registration.

V) KRA PIN Registration

Upon receiving the company certificate and your memorandum and article of association, you will need to perform data loading and register your general supplies company KRA PIN online. If you need assistance with this, our partner company will be happy to assist you.

See Also: How To Register KRA PIN For Limited Company

Once you have company KRA PIN, certificate of incorporation, memorandum and article of association, then you’ll have everything to open a bank account for your business so you can start trading.

Are You Ready? Register Your Company Today!

We are excited that you want to register your limited company and we are happy to get everything started so you can start trading soon. Here are the step by step guide on how we will assist you to register your limited company;

Step 1: Pricing Plans

You will need to select which registration package you prefer;

Lite Plan – Ksh. 20,000 – Includes Company Name Search, Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum, CR12 Letter only.

Premium Plan – Ksh. 40,000 – Includes Company Name Search, Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum, CR12 Letter, Company KRA PIN, VAT Registration, Tax Compliance Certificate Registration, Lipa Na Mpesa Account Registration, Business Cash Advance Facility, Masterpass QR Registration, Website Design, SSL Certificate for Website, Domain Name (.COM or .CO.KE), Web Hosting (10GB Diskspace), Unlimited Company Email Accounts, Logo Design, Business Card Design, Letterhead Design and Business Consultancy.

Step 2: Requirement Form

Please download and fill this Requirement Form below with your information.

Click on this link to download the Company Registration Requirements Form [Word Version, 3 Pages, Size: 19.7KB]

Step 3: Registration Order

Once you complete your company requirement form, you will need to upload it on the registration order below and submit your order.

Photo Courtesy of heart-research.org