Appointment:Eric Rutto succeeds long serving Richard Ngatia at KNCCI helm

Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) Chamber President Dr. Eric Rutto and his running mate Mustafa Ramadhan have promised to embark on increased lobbying activities to bring down the cost of doing business in the country.Dr Rutto pointed at the issue of multiple licenses and taxes and pending bills as the biggest challenges to businesses in Kenya even as he said the chamber would embark on lobbying both county and national governments to put in place policies that encourage investment for the country to achieve its development goals.

“Our leadership will focus and emphasize on the advocacy function.We will position the chamber at the center of influencing pro-business public policy and development priorities at the National and County level,”Dr Rutto said in his acceptance speech.He added that such policies will cushion Kenyan businesses from exploitation, dumping and unfair trade practices. To achieve this Dr Rutto has called on collaboration between the business community, county and national government leadership to work together in formulation of important documents such as the finance bills and to push the Buy Kenya, Build Kenya and Export Kenya Focus. The Chamber President has also lauded the government’s value chain approach to drive the economy saying the business community is ready and able to seize the opportunity.

These are part of the promises in his manifesto anchored on six pillars including: advocacy, networking and collaboration, institutional strengthening, economic diplomacy, market linkages and inclusivity which the new leadership believes will provide the chamber with the booster to achieve its mandate and offer services to its membership. “We will also in the coming days review and operationalize existing MoUs and cascade them to our county chapters so that our members can benefit. Thereafter we will build on the chapters mobilization capacity to strengthen local and global partnerships that build on our synergies and comparative advantage,” he added.

Deputy Chamber President Mustafa Ramadhan has also promised that the chamber through the establishment of a financial and information management system create a ecosystem that empowers the members to thrive in the ever evolving landscape.Mustafa Ramadhan Commented:
“We will start by the digitization of our members to ease support and coordination, thereafter, we will establish data of investment opportunities in the 47 chapters to attract investments. We will also offer value to all our existing members for membership mobilization and renewal rate for sustained growth.”

As the duos first order of business the position of women in business, youth in business and people living with disabilities was cemented into the chambers memorandum and articles of association (MEMARTS) making it a function office with financial resurces. In the next 60 days each of the 10 regions in Kenya is expected to elect a women in business representative with the culmination of the Women in Business President election thereafter.Dr Eric Rutto and Mustafa Ramadhan beat the incumbent Chamber President Richard Ngatia and his running mate Abdulwalli Shariff garnering 291 against 208 votes.