How to register a business in Kenya: structures, costs and the order to do it in

To register a business in Kenya you file online through the Business Registration Service (BRS) on the eCitizen platform. The two decisions that set everything else are which structure you register (a business name is the cheapest and fastest; a limited company costs more but separates you from the business legally) and doing the steps in the right order so you are not paying twice or waiting twice.

This guide covers the structures and what each one costs, the order to do things in, and the extra costs beyond the government filing fee that catch most people out.

Why formal registration is worth it

Kenya’s businesses are overwhelmingly informal. The KNBS 2016 MSME Survey, the first comprehensive count of its kind, estimated 7.41 million micro, small and medium enterprises, of which only about 1.56 million were licensed and roughly 5.85 million were unlicensed.

Being in the unregistered majority has a real cost. Without a registration certificate and a KRA PIN you cannot open a business bank account in the business name, invoice corporate or government clients who require it, or qualify for most formal credit and supplier accounts. Registration is the door that most of the rest of running a business opens through.

The structures and what they cost

The registration fee depends on the structure you pick. These are the official BRS filing fees, paid on eCitizen:

Structure	BRS fee	Typical processing
Sole proprietorship / business name	KES 950	About 1 day
Private limited company	KES 10,650	3 to 5 days
Company limited by guarantee	KES 10,000	3+ days
Limited liability partnership (LLP)	KES 25,000	About 1 day
Foreign company branch	KES 7,550	3 to 5 days

The business name (sole proprietorship) is the cheapest and quickest, but it does not make the business a separate legal entity. You and the business are the same in law, so business debts are your personal debts.

The private limited company costs more and takes longer, but it is a separate legal person. It can own assets, sign contracts, and be sued in its own name, and your liability is generally limited to what you put in. That separation is the main reason to pay for it.

You can see the current fee for any structure on the business registration cost estimator.

The order to do things in

1. Check your name before you pay for a search. BRS rejects names that clash with an existing one or use restricted words without approval. Run your candidates past the business name checklist first so your paid search does not come back rejected.
2. Do the official name search and reservation on eCitizen. An official search costs KES 250 on a business name and KES 650 on a company name. A successful reservation holds the name for you while you complete registration. Have 1 to 3 backups ready in case your first choice is taken.
3. Register the structure on eCitizen. Pay the BRS filing fee for your chosen structure from the table above. A business name is largely your own details; a limited company also needs its directors and shareholders, their details, and the shareholding split, which is why many people register a company through an agent.
4. Get your KRA PIN. This is free, done on iTax, and you cannot really operate without it. A company gets its own PIN separate from the directors’ personal PINs.
5. Get your county Single Business Permit. This is a county government licence to operate, separate from BRS registration, and it recurs every year. Cost varies by county and business size, commonly in the range of KES 5,000 to 15,000 or more per year.
6. Open the business bank account. With the registration certificate and the KRA PIN you can now open an account in the business name, which is what lets you keep business and personal money separate from day one.

The costs beyond the filing fee

The BRS fee is only part of the real total. Budget for:

• The name search and reservation (KES 250 or KES 650, above).
• The KRA PIN (free, but a required step, not an optional one).
• The county Single Business Permit (recurring yearly, KES 5,000 to 15,000+, varies by county).
• An agent’s professional fee, if you use one for a limited company. This sits on top of the government fee and varies widely.
• The eCitizen transaction fee charged at checkout. This figure has been in flux since a 2025 court ruling, so confirm the exact amount on your live eCitizen invoice rather than assuming a fixed number.

Common mistakes to avoid

Paying for a name search before checking the name. A rejected search means paying and waiting again. The rejection reasons are predictable; check against them first.

Registering a business name when you needed a company. If you are taking on business debt, signing large contracts, or bringing in partners, the personal liability of a sole proprietorship can cost far more later than the company fee costs now. Pick the structure for where the business is going, not only where it is today.

Stopping at the BRS certificate. Registration is not the finish line. The KRA PIN and the county Single Business Permit are separate steps, and skipping the permit is a common reason a registered business still gets in trouble with its county.

Forgetting the permit recurs. The Single Business Permit is annual. Budget for it every year, not just at startup.

Which structure should I pick?

If you are a solo operator with low liability and want to start cheaply and fast, a business name is usually the right first step. If you are raising money, taking on partners, signing sizeable contracts, or want the business to be legally separate from you, register a private limited company and treat the higher fee and short wait as the price of that protection.

You can change your mind later, but re-registering under a new structure means starting parts of the process again, so it is worth deciding deliberately at the start.

Do I have to use an agent?

No. A business name is straightforward enough to do yourself on eCitizen. A limited company is also possible to self-file, but the extra fields (directors, shareholders, shareholding, and the constitutional documents) are where people commonly bring in an agent to avoid errors that cause rejection. If you self-file, work slowly and check every entry, because a mistake means another round trip.