Register A Business Name; Steps, Amount & Requirements

Register A Business Name; Steps, Amount & Requirements

Registering a business name signifies genuineness and is a great step to run a legal business in Nigeria or any part of the world. A registered business name might also be required of your business in order to do business with government parastatals and partner with some companies here in Nigeria.
Asides from the high trends of benefits your business would attend when you register with the Cooperate Affairs Commission (CAC) your business would also be endorsed with the rights of bearing the business name you choose. I.e. No other business can or have the rights to bear the same name.
Most business owners and intending entrepreneur assume business registration is a difficulty task and at the same time costly BUT this is a wrong motive as this article will outline the steps, amount needed and requirements for registering a business name in Nigeria.

Steps to Register A Business Name In Nigeria

Business Name Availability Search:

When registering your business name with CAC your first steps is to make use of CAC Nigeria’s portal to search if your desired business name is available. This is always the first step when registering any kind of company or organisation in Nigeria. Also, you must understand that certain words like “Investment, Group, Limited etc are not allowed when registering a Business Name / Enterprise.

Reservation of Business Name for Business name registration: 

After you have conduct a search and found out that your desired name is available you can then proceed to reserve your business name on CAC website. You can search and reserve a name online here.
If you do not want to make use of the online portal, you can walk into any of the CAC offices and obtain the Reservation of name form.
It’s important to note that when you are reserving a name you choose a name that is considerably unique and you should have at least 2 options. You will have to review the business information details from the look up, fill all the required additional Information.
To complete this step you will have to make your 500 hundred naira business name reservation payment online with your MasterCard ,Visa or pay with bank account. After your payment has been made, to check your application status or your payment status, go to “My Reservation History”. If your payment was approved and your application status still reads “Not Submitted”. Kindly click on “Action” , then click on “View payment history” to enable you know your payment status. If the payment status reads FAILED, DISAPPROVED or IN PROGRESS, kindly click on the “Check Status” to manually check your payment status then wait for 15mins to see the updated status of your payment. The name reservation takes two working days for approval.
Make sure you are ready for the proper registration/documentation before you check for name reservation, this is because your business name reservation is only valid for 60days, you have to register proper before the grace period expires else another person can use that name.
Having given you the steps of business name search and availability, i would proceed to the registration procedure proper.

Application for Registration of Business Name:

To apply for business name online, you will need to enter the availability code of the business name you want to register, sent to you in the notice of approval by CAC. Also, you will list the nature of the business and the address of the business. You will also write down the owners of the business name. The owner of the business is the proprietors of a business name. Anyone can be a proprietor or owner of a business name.
A company or individual can be an owner of a business name. Even underage people can own a business name, but this requires special permission. If the owner is a minor, the CAC asks for an attestation from a magistrate, legal practitioner, or a police officer of a certain rank.
A company can also own a Business Name but in such a case, the CAC asks for an attestation from the company director or company secretary. Finally, owners of a business name can be a mix of individuals and companies.
After that, you will proceed to add new nature of the business. When it comes to nature of the business ensure that you type in three (3) nature of business and it is always a good idea to add General contracts so you do not need to get another business name in the future. General contracts encompasses everything.
Now one more important thing is when asked if you need additional copies of Certified true copy and documents, select Zero as this is applicable to only those who are registering a limited liability company.
The next step here is to submit the form and Pay 10,000 naira for the business name using you MasterCard ,Visa or pay with bank account. You would be given an APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION OF BUSINESS NAME form and a PAYMENT RECEIPT to submit to the CAC office in your selection.
Finally, proceed to a bank in Nigeria, says Sky bank to pay 250 naira stamp duty fee into Remita account. A document will be issued to you at the bank.

 Filing Of Your Business Name Application

Once you’ve completed and downloaded the Business Name Application form, you will proceed to the CAC office of your choice indicated when filling your application form to make submission of your document for approval. The document below should be submitted for filling with the corporate Affairs commission.

1. Two copies of all receipt of payment from Remitta and CAC,
2. Two copies of the approval of business name document
3. Two copies of the form you received upon payment for business name with two passport Photographs.

How Much Does It Cost To Register A Business Name In Nigeria

Although the price range for the registration of a business name in Nigeria varies due to the type and complexity of the business you want to register. In this article, our guide is based on the registration or a simple business and this would cost a total amount of  10,750 naira approximately 20,000 naira. The break down goes as thus: 500 naira for name preservation, 10,000 naira for business name acquisition and 250 naira for duty stamp fee.

Requirements For Business Name Registration In Nigeria

Registering a business name, requires having a valid, national identification card such as a: passport, driver’s licence, permanent voter’s card, or a national ID card. These can sometimes take months to obtain. So if you’re in a hurry, they may accept a declaration of age.