Kenya: Foreign companies to face 30 per cent local ownership rule
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Kenya: Foreign companies to face 30 per cent local ownership rule
1–10 of 34 posts
Re: Kenya: Foreign companies to face 30 per cent local ownership rule
#2Note: the alternative is a 5 million fine, in Kenyan Shillings. That's a little under $50k.
Re: Kenya: Foreign companies to face 30 per cent local ownership rule
#3Well done
Re: Kenya: Foreign companies to face 30 per cent local ownership rule
#4I'm American and I lived and worked in Kenya (as a Linux sysadmin) for over eight years until recently. There were rumors of this sort of "Kenyanization" happening for years. I think this move is a mistake, and only serves as pandering to populist politics. Relevant commentary from another American friend working in cloud startup space in Nairobi a few years ago:
Re: Kenya: Foreign companies to face 30 per cent local ownership rule
#5Note: the alternative is a 5 million fine, in Kenyan Shillings. That's a little under $50k.
It might be a bad alternative depending on how often they can repeatedly fine you for violations of that sort.
Re: Kenya: Foreign companies to face 30 per cent local ownership rule
#630% of the entire company must be locally owned?
That seems unlikely to work out.
Does any country have local ownership rules of this kind?
Re: Kenya: Foreign companies to face 30 per cent local ownership rule
#730% of the entire company must be locally owned? That seems unlikely to work out. Does any country have local ownership rules of this kind?
I believe China has a rule similar to this.
Re: Kenya: Foreign companies to face 30 per cent local ownership rule
#8Disregarding the optics of this which is significant, can someone give me an idea of how difficult 30% ownership is? The closest analog would be like an ethnic food outlet in the US fully owned by a family who are all residents but not citizens.
Re: Kenya: Foreign companies to face 30 per cent local ownership rule
#930% of the entire company must be locally owned? That seems unlikely to work out. Does any country have local ownership rules of this kind?
Yes, the UAE requires 51% Emirati ownership for all companies not located in free zones.
It's a terrible policy which has significantly stifled entrepreneurship. Most businesses skirt around it by either funneling their revenue through a free zone or hiring an Emirati "owner."
These sorts of policies are classic populist maneuvers which seem like a good idea, but impose a tax on business activity which outweighs any gains to be had.
Re: Kenya: Foreign companies to face 30 per cent local ownership rule
#1030% of the entire company must be locally owned? That seems unlikely to work out. Does any country have local ownership rules of this kind?
Yes, the UAE requires 51% Emirati ownership for all companies not located in free zones. It's a terrible policy which has significantly stifled entrepreneurship. Most businesses skirt around it by either funneling their revenue through a free zone or hiring an Emirati "owner." These sorts of policies are classic populist maneuvers which seem like a good idea, but impose a tax on business activity which outweighs any…
But UAE has free zones - plus lots of oil money going around...