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Kenya’s president is wooing American tech companies, promising a business-friendly environment. Of late, President William Ruto has raised taxes on businesses creating widespread discomfiture among businesses
Kenya’s president is wooing American tech companies, promising a business-friendly environment. Of late, President William Ruto has raised taxes on businesses creating widespread discomfiture among businesses.
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On a visit to the US recently, Ruto appealed to leading U.S. technology companies and investors in San Francisco, to avail investment opportunities in his country. The spoilsport could be several proposed taxes that could increase the cost of doing business in Kenya, including in the tech sector. One of the newly proposed taxes includes the digital service tax at 3%, targeting foreign tech giants that use the internet to market and sell products. It has the potential to bring home billions of tax proceeds in the local currency. However, analysts fear that such taxes would take away the conducive business environment said to exist in Kenya.
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In his address, Ruto insisted his country was positioning itself as Africa’s business process outsourcing and creative economy hub, citing internet penetration and a growing workforce. Kenya has in the past been accused of not tightening labor laws to prevent the exploitation of employees by tech companies, such as Meta who were sued by former employees over poor working conditions and accused of paying low wages to content moderators.
