I’ve been wanting to post about the Kuwait Business Center ever since I got involved in the project back in April, but I couldn’t since the project was still under wraps and when it soft launched in May, there were still a few kinks that were being worked out. But, a couple of weeks ago the Ministry of Commerce and Industry officially launched the Kuwait Business Center which is why I decided now would be the best time to write about it.
Anyone who has tried to start a business in Kuwait knows how much running around is needed. Literally. I have a friend who was opening a business and according to his iPhone, he covered the distance of 5KM just running around getting paperwork signed and stamped from one person to the next. KBC is solving all of this by shifting everything online and automating the process while also setting up a one stop shop located in Ishbilia. Now all you need to do is visit their website, apply for your company online and then once everything is approved, you head over to the KBC office in Ishbilia and get everything finalized there. Just 1 visit and just 4 days to issue a license compared to over a month and lots of running around with the old fashioned way.
There are a bunch of other benefits which I’m not sure if they’ve implemented yet or not since the information on the website is all in Arabic. But one new feature I was told about back in April was that small businesses no longer needed to rent an office space so they could get a license, instead they could now use a PO Box which would help keep their overheads low.
So if you’re planning on starting a new business, check out the Kuwait Business Center website [Here]
24 replies on “Establish A New Company With One Visit”
Is this facility available for expats as well?
One still needs a local sponsor, right?
With KBC yes, you need a local sponsor. But it is now possible to establish a company with 100% foreign ownership with the help of KDIPA https://kdipa.gov.kw
But there are certain requirements that need to be met.
Woah that’s a big change. I know some countries will allow foreign ownership if you can prove you’re employing locals since at some point they’re more worried about new jobs than new business
“small businesses no longer needed to rent an office space so they could get a license, instead they could now use a PO Box”
What would classify as a small business? We literally have an office just for the above mentioned reason.
I am not sure, you would have to read the rules/laws or check with them.
i asked about this a couple of weeks back, its planned but yet to be officially legal
and it will be for certain activities only (like programmers and such)
Does anyone know if this is now in effect? I am a developer and I want to quit my own job to start my own business as a freelancer- I have no need for a physical office.
For social allowance that is… I do have a degree in software engineering
Considering that the pound is down, and UK catching on the Black Friday/Cyber Monday trend, there’s some money to be burned.
sorry wrong thread.
Yay! Just in time, and hopefully this PO license is true.
I worked for some time in the old Ministry of Commerce and Industry website and locations. https://mociweb01.csc.gov.kw:7002/MOCI/
i’m a kuwaiti who can sponsor your business. let me know if you need me…..
How can I contact you abdulla?
Uniting two worlds at gmail dot com
mark,
who was the lady that used to post legal articles?
can you ask her to post something on the legal aspects of opening a company under a PO box?
the information should be listed on KBC but as someone mentioned in the comments above it still hasn’t been finalized
yeah i tried to submit an app on their website and it didn’t go through. been trying for 4 days consistently. and every time i call the badala they give me a different number for the person responsible for “sharikat ashkha9” part of the ministry. yay kuwait
Mark,
I just finished establishing a company the old fashioned way through the main ministry of commerce building in Kuwait city.
Before that, I visited KBC twice (2 months ago). The second time I visited once I finally decided to open the company, I was told that up to that date, no companies have yet got their license issued and that there are still some hiccups. The kind lady told me to better go to the main ministry of commerce rather than KBC, since she did not guarantee that the license will be issued quick (at least at that point of time).
Perhaps things changed, and I hope they did. Kuwait needs to improve this process.
Hey, my friend was just telling me yesterday how she set up her company through KBC a few days ago and how everything went smoothly and quick and she got it done in one visit. She’s actually going to be posting about her experience on the blog.
That’s great news. Looking forward to reading about her experience.
Hey Mark, I’d love to see the continuation of this blog post (about how your friend went about setting up her company through KBC). I’ve been looking into this, but I can’t seem to figure it out; the KBC website has links to other sites and various PDF documents (all in Arabic). Doesn’t seem as simple and straight forward as I had hoped. I’m relatively new in town, so hoping for some guidance here.
Hi Mark,
I have gone through the website, but all the links for info/application etc. are in Arabic. Google translate does not work very well with those webpages either.
Is there any plan to make to have these pages in English? As at the end of the day there will be a lot of expatriates who will be looking to use these services and the information is still not readily available for users who can’t read/understand Arabic.
i dont think so since the government forms for registering a company need to be in arabic