With the introduction and recent operationalization of the Business Registration Services (BRS) by the Companies Registry, all applications relating to:

• incorporation of a company;
• filing changes to a company such as changes to shareholding, directorship, registered office and share capital;
• filing annual and interim returns; and
• conducting of official searches

are now undertaken online and are carried out through the BRS portal. These services, however, are only available to companies that have been verified.

Verified companies are those which have aligned their manual (physical file at the Company Registrar’s office) file details to their e-citizen (digital) account.

The process of verifying a company begins by linking the company to its respective officials, that is, the directors and/or company secretary and providing details of the company’s registered office and address. The process of linking may only be performed by a director, a director-shareholder or an appointed company secretary through their personal e-citizen account.

Please click here to read the instruction manual on how to Link a business. Once the Registry has confirmed that the details provided by the company official align with the company’s records at the Registry, the linking is then ‘approved’ and the company is then ‘verified’.

It is important to note that due to the heavy backlog of applications being experienced at the Companies Registry, the process of linking and verifying a company currently takes about four weeks on average. Company officials are therefore advised to begin the linking and verification process as early as possible.

Should you have any enquiries regarding this alert or any general queries on the subject matter kindly contact Nyawira Kirubi, Partner or Jeff Kinuthia, Lawyer.

Disclaimer: This article has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship. Nothing on this article is intended to guaranty, warranty, or predict the outcome of a particular case and should not be construed as such a guaranty, warranty, or prediction. The authors are not responsible for any actions (or lack thereof) taken as a result of relying on or in any way using information contained in this article and in no event shall be liable for any damages resulting from reliance on or use of this information. Readers should take specific advice from a qualified professional when dealing with specific situations.