Kenyans will now be able to apply for Certificates of Origin online, among other functions after the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) entered into partnership with TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) to launch a web portal.
Following the new deal, TMEA will provide KNCCI with technical support as well as financial support amounting to KSh 7.5 Million for the design and development process of the online web portal that will facilitate various trade services.
KNCCI CEO, Charles Mbogori expressed excitement and hailed the financial agreement between the two organisations saying it was a huge milestone to the trade facilitation process in Kenya.
“The automation process will include membership automation as well as the certificate of origin and KNCCI will be able to register members online from the County Chambers as well as at the national level,” said Mbogori.
In a bid to improve service delivery and provide efficiency in operations, services ranging from application, verification, approvals and making payments will be done online once the portal is up and running.
“The e-portal will improve delivery of services to traders expediting the processing of certificates which will reduce costs that traders and exporters experience as a result of the delays,” said Chris Kiptoo, TMEA’s Country Director.
Expected to be operational in the next three months or so, the portal is set to curb various challenges that Kenyans experience during the exportation process such as huge delays that may later amount to huge losses that could be avoided.
What the e-portal will bring to the table
In a 7.5 Million project, expectations on the end product will be high for Kenyans and everyone will be looking to experience great changes that will lead to efficiency in the trade operations.
The web portal will for one, seek to address the delay challenge that exporters face in accessing the certificates of origin in the current manual process.
It also promises to enhance security of export documents that keep exchanging hands and could be misplaced in the process or used for the wrong reasons.
Registration to become a KNCCI stakeholder through membership will be done online and so will membership renewal, application for the certificates for both members and non members will also be online as well as the payment transactions.
Kenyans will also be able to readily access the relevant information pertaining to trade operations on the new portal, once its developed.
