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Cytonn Investment Chief Executive Edwin Dande says with the right governance, Kenya is poised to be Africa's entrepreneurship hub/FILE

Kenya

GES propels Kenya as Africa’s entrepreneurship hub

Challenges

However, Dande says the Kenyan population faces obstacles that hinder them from exploiting their full potential.

“These obstacles are statutory, economic or social,” he said.

Among the major challenges to entrepreneurship include:

o Exam-based education system: Education nurtures talent from an early stage. A good education backbone in the country serves as a strong foundation on which entrepreneurship thrives. Our education system has been criticized for being rigid and exam based, hence limiting creativity and innovation, which are key for entrepreneurship. We need to review the system to one that nurtures talent and creativity from an early stage rather than one that focuses solely on examination.

o High taxes: High taxes have a significant impact on entrepreneurial activity hindering innovation. Entrepreneurs are discouraged to invest their ideas in the formal sector that have strict statutory regulations and will rather work in the informal sector where they can evade tax.

o Unclear and/or too many conflicting regulatory hurdles: It should be easy for any entrepreneur to register and run their business as long as they can comply with the required regulations. Streamlining the regulatory authorities so that there is minimum waiting time to receive service should be key across all sectors.

o Difficulty in attracting and retaining a quality workforce: A good entrepreneurial venture requires a skilled and dedicated workforce. The difficulty and the expenses associated with sourcing or training such a workforce discourages entrepreneurial activity as entrepreneurs try to minimize their start-up costs. Improvement of the education system to a problem solving based and rounded education system will help, as the quality of graduates will be improved thus reducing the cost of training.

o Prevalent corruption in the country: Corruption within public and private sectors make it hard for ambitious entrepreneurs to pursue their ideas, as they have to pay bribes to attain the necessary statutory approvals. The government’s war on graft is a step to curb the challenge of corruption in turn inspiring the public to innovation. We should all support the President’s ongoing fight against corruption.

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“A rich entrepreneurial culture in Kenya will create jobs, grow the economy and uplift the standards of living. The current depreciation in the Kenya Shilling, in the long-term, can be well addressed by entrepreneurs manufacturing more locally to reduce imports, exporting more to global markets, and thereby strengthening the Kenya Shilling,” he concludes.

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