Mombasa own source revenue increases by Sh90 billion

Mombasa county's own-source revenue grew by Sh90 billion from last year, marking its biggest growth since the advent of devolution, the County Executive Committee (CEC) member for Trade Mohamed Osman has said.

Osman attributed the growth to the conducive business environment.

He revealed that the county is drafting laws to facilitate smooth business operations and further grow the revenue.

"From last year, our Own Source Revenue (OSR) has moved from Sh3.5 billion to Sh4.4 billion, which is a big stride. It is because we can interact with our business partners," said Osman.

The CEC said the county plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) to deepen collaboration and aid business growth.

"Our primary objective is to have a conducive environment for the businesses to thrive," Osman said during a breakfast meeting hosted by the KNCCI Mombasa branch.

He revealed that public participation on the Market Management and Street Vendors Bill has been concluded and awaits approval by in the county assembly.

"The Bill intends to bring order and sanity. We have done our mapping and found we have around 10,000 street vendors. These are informal traders and our primary objective is to register them as formal traders," he said.

He said the department will connect vendors to financial institutions to help them access loans.

"Once we have that Bill, we will be able to have vending zones with social amenities to allow the traders to sell their wares. There will be restricted zones and areas that we will allow traders to do business but within timeframes and non-vending zones like the Central Business District," he explained.

KNCCI Mombasa chairman, Aboud Jamal, urged traders to embrace partnerships and innovative ideas to boost investments.

"The Chamber plays a critical role by partnering with Mombasa county government to create a conducive atmosphere. We want to hear more from business owners about the challenges they are facing," said Jamal.

Uganda's Mombasa Consulate General Paul Mukumbya, said they are keen to enhance trade and investment relations between Uganda and Kenya.

Assistant Vice President of the Commercial International Bank (CIB) Kenya Limited Soliman El Ashkar, said Egyptian firms are setting base in the country due to the impressive trade balance between the two nations.

Trade between Egypt and Kenya is about Sh83 billion to Sh90 billion a year. Kenya exports tea to Egypt, and imports gypsum, papers, plastics, and sanitary wares from Cairo.

"Part of our mandate as CIB is to grow the trade between Egypt and Kenya. Part of what we do is if a Kenyan producer has something to offer to the Egyptian market, we will connect them with potential buyers and Kenyan importers who want to source something we will also connect," stated El Ashkar.

AAR Insurance Kenya and East Africa chief executive officer Justine Kosgei, said they have curated products for KNCCI members to increase insurance penetration to the traders.

Compared to other markets in Africa like South Africa, Kosgei observed that Kenya's insurance penetration is at 2.7 per cent.

In a bid to remove the barriers that prevent people from taking insurance, KNCCI will enjoy no waiting periods, and no pre-joining medical exams.
He cited a lack of knowledge, trust, and affordability for low insurance uptake among Kenyans.

Through the partnership with KNCCI chapters, Kosgei said insurance uptake has improved among business people.

"We are glad to see thousands of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that we have insured. We have hundreds of SMEs that we bring on board every month," he said.

"We are trying to demystify the aspect that insurance penetration is low, we are trying to raise that so that we can fill that gap and ensure that everybody is protected," he added.