How To Register A Company/Business In Nigeria (CAC)

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Erudite
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Location: Naija
 

January 14th, 2012, 8:01 am

In Nigeria, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is saddled with the responsibility of registering, documenting and keeping accurate record of all companies, businesses and corporate bodies.
To start with, let me clarify that there are three main categories when it comes to registering a business name/company in Nigeria.
1. Business Name e.g Tayo Enterprises, Services, or Ventures
2. Private Limited Companies e.g Tayo Nigeria Limited, LTDs
3. Incorporated/Public Companies e.g Koko Water Nigeria PLC
http://www.bestnaija.ng/viewforum.php?f=15
The requirements for registering each differ and each can be upgraded to the next.

Steps

1. Choose your intended Business Name: This is the name you want your business to bear, its your brand and it differentiates your business from every other and makes it stand out as a separate legal entity.
Because it must be unique and no other business must have the same name, the next step as highlighted below is to perform search to be sure it doesn't already exist or someone else has already chosen that name in which case you just have to crack your brain and coin out another name.

2. Search: For a business name, as in the other two categories, to register requires you visit the nearest CAC office to you, obtain a 'Search Request Form' for a few bucks (less than $2), thats about N300.00 and fill it out with your intended information like proposed business name and your personal info as the registrant.
Submit it back to CAC and CAC will perform the 'search' which lasts for less than 2 weeks. If the result is negative, please think of an alternative. But if approved, the next step is...

3. Register your business/company: For ordinary business name, simply obtain another documentation form for about $3 and put all info necessary. At this stage, you shall have to choose the businesses' 'statement of object' by which I mean the type of businesses you intend to do with the business name. You can take a max of 3 options but ensure its wide enough to cover all your business deals. This has legal implications but do not panic, you can always alter this later on if things change by a simple board resolution and proper processing thereafter at CAC.
http://www.bestnaija.ng/viewforum.php?f=15
After filling out the documentation form together with all documents required for each category as dictated by CAC in Nigeria, you pay the necessary registration/documentation/incorporation fees and your certificate will be processed and issued in the shortest possible time. The fee for business name shouldn't be more than N5,000 but other categories are higher.
Points to note: There are further legal steps required for the other two categories not mention here. Our articles in the future will deal with that. Please note too that there is an annual fee payable to CAC for each business/company, and do not forget to pay your taxes.

Hoping you have picked one or two information from my post? Please add more info by replying below, ask questions too and correct me where am wrong. Thank you.
:w':

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excellence
Newbie
 

January 18th, 2012, 4:52 pm

Thanks Erudite!.....................Your post was enlightening however, i wish for more information on the matter as my concern, relates to issue of upgrading a registered business name to a registered company in Nigeria.
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NiceGuy
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Location: Lagos
 

January 26th, 2012, 8:40 am

This is exciting. :D

[ m ]
I'm really not that nice... :mrgreen:
bolutife80
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Location: Abeokuta
 

December 5th, 2012, 11:40 am

Good

Blackberry
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Yehmmy
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Location: Ibadan
 

August 25th, 2013, 9:24 am

Nice.

If your enemy is hungry, show him Mr BIGGS!
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April 18th, 2014, 7:11 pm

good. pls how much to pay yearly?
Bambamlala
Junior
 

June 28th, 2014, 8:12 am

How to Register Your Business/Company with CAC Nigeria
This article will show you how to register your business/company with corporate Affair Commission of Nigeria. I will show you how I registered my own business (Etimate Global Services) with CAC and the steps to take to register it without spending much. I will also show you what it will cost you to register.

Business OpportunityRegistration of any business in Nigeria is done by The Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria (CAC). The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) was established under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 1990. The Commission is the Agency of Government charged with, amongst other responsibilities, the regulation and supervision of the formation, incorporation, registration and management of Companies, Business Names and Incorporated Trustees. The Commission also regulates and supervises the striking off and winding up of Companies, removal of Business Names from the register and dissolution of Incorporated Trustees.

So I will start with registration of business name. When I wanted to register my business, I came up with Utimate Services and Utimate Unique Concept; those 2 names were rejected because Ultimate Services was already registered. So later came up with Etimate Global Services and Etimate Unique Concept. I derived the names from my first name and surname – Utibe for UTIMATE and Etim for ETIMATE and then add Global Services or Unique Services or Concept.

REGISTRATION OF BUSINESS NAME/COMPANY NAME

Registration of business name in Nigeria or incorporation of your company in Nigeria can sometimes be a nightmare due to some unnecessary bureaucracies. Normally, registering your business is done within a month, but sometimes it can take you up to 3 months to get it done.

To register your business name:

1) Come up with a good and unique business name/company name and alternative name (A name

2) Go to CAC office in your state for business name search

3) Obtain business name search form for N200, fill the form and submit it.

4) Check back after 2 weeks to see if the name is available. If the name is not available (may be the name is similar to another company), you would have to come up with another name and pay N200 again for another search to be conducted.

5) If your business name is available, you proceed to register your business name. Registration of business name is just N4000 only. You need 2 passports to register.

6) If you have more than one office, you are required to pay N1000 for each of the offices.

7) An individual or two or more individuals can register business name and you don’t need a lawyer to do that.

If you’re looking forward to registering Private Company limited by shares, Private unlimited Company, Public Company limited by shares, Public unlimited Company and Company limited by guarantee, it is advisable you get a lawyer to help you with the registration.
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Erudite
Senior
Location: Naija
 

November 1st, 2016, 8:11 am

Most of these processes have been automated now. Visit www.cac.gov.ng
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eMade
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Location: Abuja
 

May 16th, 2017, 8:56 pm

Great info. But the registration process has improved greatly now.
Learn more about ✓ VIP Members: https://www.bestnaija.ng/61848 ✓ Referral: https://www.bestnaija.ng/62508
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Dreams
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May 16th, 2018, 11:07 am

Great post. A lot of things have changed so far though. Learn how to make money online http://www.cashprof.com/category/learn-how-to-make-money-online/
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Artur
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November 25th, 2018, 7:09 pm

Hi! I work at the company in the office my working day started at 9 pm and ending in the evening. I very tired and decide to change something. Looking for new work on the Internet but they propose the same work. And I decide to make own business and should register a company. And I started to сollect documents and look for information about it on the Internet.
In the process of collecting the documents, it turned out that a copy in English is needed and I contacted the translation agency https://adgloriam-translations.com/ and they helped me with the translation.
Afwal Mortimer
Newbie
 

June 8th, 2020, 8:39 pm

Thank you very much for this guide. I am a young graduate from Lagos and I want to start a new business in selling cosmetics. Please could you advise if this sort of business will have profit in my city? Also my professor said I must issue loyalty cards to retain regular customers. It was hard to find who can make them, only m-loyalty.com/ke/mloyalty-types/ agreed to provide an app that will issue them. Am I making right steps?
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Dube
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August 2nd, 2020, 3:22 pm

OK
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TitanKenneth
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November 30th, 2020, 1:35 am

:tu:
Follow me on facebook "Titan Kenneth".
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Youngbaby
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April 4th, 2021, 5:24 pm

That was a nice trip. It is really educative and can help one figure out something.
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Gloria50
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Location: Enugu, Nigeria
 

May 3rd, 2021, 7:52 pm

Interesting
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