“Kenya not good environment for software makers”

Last Updated 14 years ago by Kenya Engineer

Kenya is soon losing out on a major player in the tech industry owing to harsh operating environment and unfavorable tax regimes. This is according to a software developer in Kenya, Craft Silicon who are now planning to move their operations to Asia.This will be a blow especially now that the country is pushing for more software developers to create solutions to tap into the global growth. The firm has been a key player in the software industry in the country cutting edge core financial solutions, switch solutions and financial inclusion services.

Craft Silicon announced plans of relocating its operations to Asia citing unfavorable tax regimes which are not favorable to the software industry. The firm which sells software to financial institutions across Africa, Asia and other parts of the world says it’s difficult to continue having its operations manned from Kenya because of high cost of doing business.

IT industry in Kenya is picking up with many companies falling in the small and medium bracket. The tax regime is however suffocating causing them to take longer to start generating revenue unlike in other businesses. Before the 2023/13 national budget, tax experts had called upon the government to lower taxes for small and medium enterprises to widen its tax collection while improving business environment. A report by an auditing firm shows that most companies want the government lower tax from the current 30 per cent to a manageable 28 per cent or else consider a special rate of either 25 percent or less for the small and medium companies.

The country is in the process of asserting itself as the tech hub in the region and Konza is expected to be the core as global tech firms have been said to be eying a piece of the city.