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{
    "id": 1506859,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1506859/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 363,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Caroli Omondi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "As a country, we have tried for long to incubate start-ups. We had the Kenya Industrial Estates; we had the Kenya Institute of Research and Development; and we had the Numerical Machining Complex. There are things they have done and have achieved, but there are still a lot of gaps to be filled. When I look at this Bill, I see a very good starting point. I am very confident that with public participation and the input of Members of this House, we will enrich it. There are a few areas that we probably just need to talk about at the outset. For example, the definition of ‘start-up’ appears to be a little too limited and restricted to technology-based innovation entities even though it uses the word “includes”. As we have heard Hon. Jalang’o of Lang’ata, there are fashion start-ups and news media start-ups. We can call that technology, but there are many other start-ups. So, we will probably have to look at that and see how to expand it so that many of our young people can get the opportunity to enjoy support under this Bill when it becomes an Act of Parliament. Additionally, the proposed Clause 8 on forms of registration of eligible start-ups is a bit restrictive. Actually, what start-ups require are flexible, affordable, quick and non- cumbersome business registration systems, and not the formal ones. It should not be like a private limited liability company or a partnership. Those may cost Ksh200,000 or Ksh300,000 to register, and many people may not have that kind of money. So, they need a special category of registration. We will have to do some work on that and figure out how to improve it. The requirements provide that to qualify, one must have 90 per cent of its shares owned by one or more citizens of Kenya and, at least, 15 per cent of the entity's expenses attributed to research and development. If we check the experience of Silicon Valley, most of the start-ups are actually collaborative. They are not restricted by national boundaries. An Indian guy goes into Silicon Valley, meets an American, or sometimes just an Indian guy in Silicon Valley. That is why you will find taxi drivers and waiters who do not even speak English. That is because a majority of the innovators there are from South-East Asia. We do not need to put such restrictions so as to attract international start-ups and international capital. To make it a collaborative process, we need to have very extensive flexibilities on ownership as well as on regulation. There are other very good items I have seen here, which we will need to improve on. For example, Part V, which is the heart of the matter, is about incentives for start-ups. I have read quickly what the proposed section says. The incentives reminded me of a mini-skirt. A mini-skirt is something that is long enough to cover the substance or the subject matter, but short enough to arouse interest. What I am trying to say is that the incentives are not very expansive. They are a bit too restricted to arouse interest. It may be useful to get a flavour of what start-ups really need."
}