How To Register A Business Name In Nigeria Within 24 Hours.
How To Register A Business Name In Nigeria Within 24 Hours.
When you are thinking about starting a business in Nigeria, you will have to consider whether to incorporate a company or to operate as a registered business name. This article is for individuals who are considering registering a business name. If you are interested in understanding the benefits of registering a business name, you may read our article
The process to follow in order to register your business name at the Corporate Affairs Commission is pretty simple and can be completed from the comfort of your home, if you have what it takes. This is because; business registration can now be carried out online through dedicated websites by the CAC call Company Registration Portal (CRP). The steps to follow are:
1. Search and reserve a name
The first thing to do is to check the availability of the name you want to register and to reserve the name. You can do this through the portal, which individuals can use to search for and reserve a business name.
Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to collect physical forms at CAC offices for either name search and reservation or business registration.
It’s important to note that when you are reserving a name, you choose a name that is considerably unique (you should have at least 2 name options). You should avoid the use of generic names, as they will most probably be taken already.
CAC also restricts anyone from including certain words or phrases into their business names –
· Words and phrases like “Chamber of Commerce”, “Federal”, “National”, “Regional”, “State”, “Government”, “Municipal” or “Chartered”, “Co‐operative” or the phrase “Building Society”; or “Group” or “Holding”, are prohibited for use when registering a business name.
· Also, names that in the opinion of the CAC are capable of misleading as to the nature or extent of its activities or is undesirable, offensive or otherwise contrary to public policy; will be denied.
· Names that in the opinion of the Commission would violate any existing trademark or business name registered in Nigeria unless the consent of the owner of the trademark or business name has been obtained will also not be accepted for registration.
2. Complete Application for Business Registration form (CAC/BN/1) online
If your name is not approved on your first attempt, you will have to reapply with toe different names. You will repeat this until you receive an approval. Once you have successfully reserved an acceptable name and it has been approved, the next step is to complete the application for registration form online.
You may either register the business as a sole practitioner (only you fills the form) or as a partnership (more than one person fills the form).
3. Payment of the applicable fees
After completing the form, you will need to make payment for the registration, which in turn will enable you to download and endorse (with a passport photograph for each of the partners) the CAC/BN/1 Form.
The entire process for registering a business name normally takes 1-2 weeks, but if you understand the process properly, you can register a business name in 24hour. Duration usually depends on the workload of the CAC officials and other factors. You do not necessarily need a lawyer to register a business name, however, if you want to register a company, you need the services of a lawyer or other accredited agent.
4. Visit the CAC office closest to your certificate
Lastly, you will need to visit the nearest CAC office to you to collect your certificate.
Here’s a 24 hours plan to register your business.
NB: This plan will work perfectly if you are lucky to get business name approval at your first attempt.
Pre-Registration
Generate two suitable names for your business and get them ready before you strat the registration process.
To be surer on the availability of your proposed name, you can even conduct a public search on the CAC portal. Public search is a new development in the CAC registration process and enables you to peep into the CAC database, enabling you to see if the name you are planning to use or something similar already exists. Public search is free and you do not need to have created an account with CAC to be able to do it.
Start of Registration/create account (12:00 noon to 4:00pm)
i. 12:00 noon on a weekday, create an account with the CAC portal, confirm your email and go ahead and apply for Name search and reservation on the two names you have carefully chosen.
ii. CAC will certainly respond within 4 hours because all name reservations made before 2pm on week days will get a response within 4 hours.
Business Registration Proper (4:00pm to 6:00pm)
iii. Check your email or dashboard by 4:00pm latest and you will receive an approval note containing your approval code.
iv. Extract the approval code and complete online application form for registration CORRECTLY and make PAYMENT ONLINE, say by 4:30pm.
v. Print out the CAC form in from the portal IN COLORS and sign in the appropriate places and append your signature.
vi. Scan and Upload same on the CAC portal before 6pm (before the end of the day at worst), and wait for a response.
Business Registration Complete (6:00pm to 12:00 noon the following day)
vii. Barring any issues like queries or network problems, between 6:00pm to 12:00 noon the following day (which is the 24th hour), CAC would have evaluated and confirmed your business registered.
END
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
HERE’S A BREAKDOWN OF HOW MUCH I SPENT REGISTERING A BUSINESS NAME WITH CAC LAST MONTH.
Let me, first of all, tell you that different people can spend different amounts to register their business. It’s depending on how many times your name availability search was denied. Like I mentioned earlier, there are criteria that CAC looks at before approving a name. Mr. ‘A’ may apply to search & reserve name ‘X’, CAC charges him N662 for that and reserves the name for him at the first attempt. Whereas Mr. B applies to search and reserve name ‘Y’, CAC charges him the same N662 but denies him approval because someone else is already using or have reserved that name. While Mr. ‘A’ can continue with the process of registering his business name, Mr. B would have to choose another name, apply to CAC to search and reserve it and pay another N662.
In terms of costs, Mr. A’s cost for name search would be N662 only, while Mr. ‘B’s would be N1324 and counting. So you can see that it is possible for Mr. B to spend up to N2648 at the name search and reservation level, while Mr. A’s cost is just N662, a whopping 150% difference.
So back to the calculations, let’s say you are not so lucky but not so unlucky, you searched twice before your name is approved, your cost would stand at N1324 for name search and reservation.
Using card payment online;
Name search and reservation: N500 X2 = N1,000
Remitta charges: N161.44 X 2= N322.88
Business Name Registration (50%off until Dec 31, 2018) N5,000
Remitta charges N196.88
Total N6,519.76
Average amount charged by consultants= N18,166.67
The potential amount you would save N11,646.91
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