Blog - March 13, 2018

The ABC of Registering your Business Name in Nigeria

Gone are the better old days of our parents, when government took seriously its responsibility of providing immediate profitable employment for the few Nigerian graduates. Or the good old days of those big Aunties and Uncles, when Nigerian graduates despite considerable increase in their number, only needed relatively good results for a place in the workforce. Fast forward to  many years and decades, most young Nigerians have come to the realization that business is no longer as usual. Government job or even employment with any of those multi – nationals that now occupy our hemisphere, is a long long short. It has become a privilege only a few from amongst the teeming Nigerian graduates can afford. Young Nigerians now remain massively unemployed and/or sinfully underemployed.   In a practical and wise bid to escape the harsh reality, many young Nigerians have taken the bull by the horn; they have chosen to become self – employed. It is now common sight to see young Nigerians engaged in different business enterprises and service deliveries. From sale of daily commodities, to accessories, food supplies, clothing items, foot wares, gadgets etc. Services such as blogging, fashion designing, facial make – up, event planning, and so on and so forth, are common areas young Nigerians are making remarkable progress. Just like Aesha, the founder of Hijabs by Aesha Are you a young Nigerian with an existing business or with raging thoughts of starting a business of your own soon?You have a business idea and it is all in your head, you have all the necessary plans and you have even documented them.  There is one important step you must remember to take, register your business. Business registration is as simple as A, B, C; you don’t even require the services of a lawyer to register your business name. Yes, you read that right.

The elementary procedure of Registration of Business Name in Nigeria.

• The first and most important step is coming up with a name. The Company and Allied Matters Act, Cap C20, LFN1990, requires that you come up with two name options. The first being your preferred name and the other an alternative name, should your preferred name become unavailable. E.g. Jingle Bell Sons & Daughters Enterprises (Preferred name) and (Jingle Jingle Bell Bell Sons and Daughters Enterprises (Alternative name).

This is called Reservation of Name and it is done by obtaining a form (FORM CAC 1) at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) .Most state capitals have a CAC office so this should not pose any difficulty.

Note that it is very important to stick to unique names, to avoid possible rejection of the proposed name. However, where both names are rejected, an Applicant is at liberty to reapply until her preferred name is approved.

• Upon a successful reservation of your preferred Business Name, you proceed to obtain and complete the Business Name Registration Form (FORM CAC/BN/1). Information required to be supplied in this form include, Name of Business (as earlier reserved), General Nature of Business, Address of Principal Place of Business and Full Address of Branches (if any).
• Thereafter an applicant is required to attest the duly completed Business Name Registration Form (FORM CAC/BN/1) before a Commissioner for Oath (they are to be found at Court Registries) with two Passport Photographs.
• You then  submitting same at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for final processing.

In a week or less, your Certificate of Registration of Business Name should be ready for collection at the CAC. So simple, right? Please Note that each of these stages of Business Name Registration comes with payment of applicable fees. Also, you should have a valid means of identification for the registration process; it could be your National Identity Card, Voters Card, Drivers License, International Passport etc. Your Business Name registration is also capable of being done online. As a matter of fact, most interactions with the Corporate Affairs Commission are now done online. Visit the Corporate Affairs Commission’s website here If all these don’t look like what you want to go through, contact us to do it for you, our professional fees are quite reasonable. Lol. Bye, for now. Writer : The Anonymous Lawyer