Kenya is racing to complete an overhaul of its one-stop centre for investors by the end of the year, aiming to bring company registration, work permits and government licences into a single digital platform amid growing complaints about slow and fragmented approvals.
Kenya Investment Authority (Invest Kenya) CEO John Mwendwa says the agency is working to transform the centre from a largely physical facility into what he described as a “true one-stop shop”.
This phase of digitisation is targeted for progress by the end of the year, allowing investors to access key government services without moving from one office or online portal to another.
The push exposes a gap in Kenya's investment promotion drive, with investors complaining about delays, unclear procedures and the need to deal with multiple government agencies despite the existence of a one-stop centre.
Mr Mwendwa said investors are also concerned about the speed of regulatory approvals, including the time taken to register companies, acquire titles and obtain permits and licences.
“Running around takes time if it’s not clear, and that’s why we have our one-stop centre,” Mr Mwendwa said in an interview. “For investors, the first thing that they want is predictability. Sometimes when changes occur that investors say are not pre-communicated, it becomes an issue.”
The one-stop centre has mainly operated as a physical facility, requiring investors to visit Invest Kenya's offices for help in navigating government departments.
But Mr Mwendwa said the agency began digitising the process in January 2025, allowing some services to be issued electronically and seeking to gradually bring more government approvals onto a single platform.
“We want to ensure you can register a company obtain a work permit, licences from everybody in government without going anywhere else,” he said.
The digital overhaul is being carried out through the Kenya Investment Single Window, a five-year project running from 2024 to 2029 and developed and powered by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
KISW is supported by the World Bank Group's Kenya Jobs and Economic Transformation (KJET) project and is intended to increase private investment, improve market access and support sustainable finance and job creation.
Some government systems have already been integrated into the platform, including the Kenya Revenue Authority for testing applications for KRA PINs and the Directorate of Immigration Services for expatriate work permits and labour compliance requests.
The eCitizen platform has also been incorporated as the backbone for a centralised single sign-on system and the main payments gateway.
Invest Kenya is working on onboarding the Business Registration Service, National Construction Authority, Export Processing Zones Authority, Special Economic Zones Authority and the Water Services Regulatory Board.
The next challenge is to connect these systems in a way that allows investors to complete transactions without repeatedly submitting the same information or moving between separate government portals.
UNCTAD has said the system will eventually connect with government databases and platforms, including eCitizen, KRA's iTax system and county government portals.
“This integration will enhance the functionality of existing platforms, making it easier for businesses to navigate the regulatory environment,” UNCTAD said in a report last year.
The UN agency said that while some applications can be completed online, the lack of integration between government systems continues to create major barriers for investors and entrepreneurs.
That means the real test of the digital overhaul will be whether it merely puts more services online or actually reduces the time investors spend navigating different agencies, portals and approval processes.
“It’s not easy because it’s multi-agency in nature. You have to coordinate and persuade colleagues,” Mr Mwendwa said.
This raises a key question for Kenya’s investment drive over whether Invest Kenya can turn the one-stop centre into a system that not only receives applications, but also coordinates and follows up decisions by different government agencies.
This is because an investment project can get stuck after a company is registered if it faces delays in securing land, environmental approvals, power connections, work permits or county licences.
Mr Mwendwa said the aim is to build an investment promotion system that responds to the entire investor journey rather than simply offering a collection of services.
“The engine that we run must fire unbelievably well,” he said. “We must create an investment promotion agency ecosystem that is true to the needs of investors. It must be a true one-stop shop.”
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