Before any business could be trusted by sponsors, investors and clients, such business need to be incorporated with Cooperate Affairs Commission (CAC). Without being registered, a business can’t source for loan from bank, neither be awarded any sort of contract from any federal, state or local government in Nigeria. So if a company or business is not incorporated, its possibilities of growing is limited and very tiny.
There are 2 types of company registration in Nigeria, Limited Liability Company registration and Business Name registration.
A Business Name is usually used for Sole Proprietorships (One Man Business) whilst a Limited Liability Company is owned by Shareholders and as the name implies their liability/ dividends are limited to the shares they own in the company. The image below shows some key differences between a Business Name and a Limited Liability.
The third type of registration which is not for company or business concerns religious organization, Charities organization, association or club like churches, Mosques, Foundations, NGO, etc…. They need to be registered as Incorporated Trustee.
To know more about all the registration process for the 2 types of company registration and to know more about each of them, kindly check our Frequently Ask Questions (FAQ) below.
Frequently asked questions
When all information are provided, you will get your CAC certificate within 14 working days. In some exceptional cases, it might take a little loonger.
Registering your business with CAC allows you to open and have Corporate Accounts. Customers/Clients take you more serious if your Company is registered. Banks only grant business loans to registered businesses. Your Company becomes your brand, Investors are more comfortable with a registered business
Yes of course, you can open a Corporate Bank Account with your Business Name.
Yes, you can convert your Business Name to a Limited Liability Company. It is to be noted that the process of conversions cost more money and takes a longer time.
The information required are as follows:
- Two names of the proposed business
- The address of the registered office of the business
- Nature of the business. In another word, the type of the business
- The name, phone number, email address and residential address of the owner of the business
- Scanned signature of the owner of the business
- ID card of the owner, preferably National ID card.
- A passport Photograph of the owner of the company
CAC now allows individuals to register Business Names by themselves, however SYLARM TECHY saves you the headache with our affordable and reliable Business Name registration package. Still want to do it yourself? See process below
- Check for availability of proposed company name on CAC public search portal.
- Register on CAC registration portal with your phone number or NIN
- login to CAC login Portal for name reservation and pay the reservation fee.
- After name has been approved, use the availability code, login back to start process of registration by filling all necessary forms on the Company Registration Portal
- Complete pre-registration form – CAC-BN01 and upload relevant registration documents and information online using Company Registration Portal
- Pay filing fees
- Upon completion of the registration of any entity on the portal, your registration is approved by the Commission and an E- Certificate and Certified Extract of Registration information is automatically generated to your dashboard where you can download at your convenience.
The information required are as follows:
- Two proposed names of the business
- Define the share capital of the company. The minimum required is one million (NGN1,000,000)
- The address of the registered office of the company
- The nature of the business. In another word the type of the business
- The names, phone number, email address and residential address of each of the director(s). Minimum one and maximum 50.
- The names, phone number, email address and residential address of each of the shareholder(s). Minimum of two
- The names, phone number, email address and residential address the secretary of the company (not compulsory)
- The names, phone number, email address and residential address of a witness.
- Scanned signature, passport photo and ID card (National Id Card preferably) of each person (director(s), shareholders, secretary, witness) where applicable.
CAC now allows individuals to register Business Names and Company by themselves, however SYLARM TECHY saves you the headache with our affordable and reliable Company registration package. Still want to do it yourself? The process is almost the same with the precedent. However see summary of process below.
- Check for availability of proposed company name on CAC public search portal.
- Register on CAC registration portal with your phone number or NIN
- login to CAC login Portal for name reservation and pay the reservation fee.
- After name has been approved, use the availability code, login back to start process of registration by filling all necessary forms on the Company Registration Portal
- Complete pre-registration form and upload relevant documents and information online using Company Registration Portal.
- Pay filing and Stamp duty fees
- Upon completion of the registration of any entity on the portal, your registration is approved by the Commission and an E- Certificate and Certified Extract of Registration information is automatically generated to your dashboard where you can download at your convenience.
Shares can be defined as units of ownership interest in a Limited Liability Company. While owning shares in a business does not mean that the shareholder has direct control over the business’s day-to-day operations, being a shareholder does entitle the possessor to participation in the profit (dividends) or losses (liabilities)
You can have as low as 100,000 shares. However it is advisable to have at least 1 million share capital in place because cost of filing fees and stamp duties is the same.
The amended CAMA 2020 makes provision for an individual to own 100% shares in a Company. You can however decide to allocate shares to partners, family members, partners, friends or investors. Allocation of shares is usually dependent on what the person is bringing on board. However you must be careful in choosing your shareholders as they are entitled to vote in the proceedings of company meetings, receive dividend, attend meetings and contribute to the affairs of the company, inspect company’s statutory books, protect proprietary interest in the management of the company.
Yes, it’s not possible because the amended CAMA 2020 allows sole directorship and a maximum of 50
Minors (people under 18 years) cannot be a director but can however be shareholders in the Company. This means you can attribute some shares to them
CAC reserves the right to reject names that are:
- capable of misleading as to the nature and extent of its activities
- undesirable, offensive or contrary to public policy
- identical with or similar to the name of a registered company unless the registered company is in the course of dissolution and consents in writing
- contain the phrase “Chamber of Commerce” unless it is a company limited by guarantee
- would violate any existing trade mark or business name unless with the consent of the trade mark or business name owner
- would violate any incorporated trustee unless with consent of the trustees
Yes, there are some Companies that cannot be formed with 1 million share capital. They include: Banks, Private Security Company, Insurance Businesses, Lotteries, Air Transport, Aviation, Freight Forwarding, Bureau De Change, Finance Companies, Pension Fund Managers, Underwriters, Issuers, Dealers etc…
A major and remarkable feature of the new system is the introduction of E-certificate. The commission has introduced and adopted issuance of E-certificate as against the former manual system where customers have to walk into the Commission to pick up the certificate of registrations and incorporation of all entities. Upon completion of the registration of any entity on the portal, your registration is approved by the Commission seamlessly, the certificate is automatically generated to your dashboard where you can download at your convenience.
The commission has also introduced a document format called E-status report to replace the CAC forms issued upon new registration/incorporation of all entities. The E-status report now replaces the Form CAC 1.1 for company registration, BN 1 for Business name registration, IT form 1 for Incorporated Trustees
TIN is free. It now comes printed on Certificate of Incorporation of Limited Liability Companies. For Business Names you can visit nearest FIRS office for the printout of your TIN
A foreigner can fully participate in the operation of any enterprise in Nigeria except enterprises in the negative list (which largely relates to the manufacturing of firearms and other military materials). The foreigner may operate alone or in Joint venture with Nigerians by means of a company, which has to be formed and registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC).
In addition to registering your business with the Corporate Affairs Commission, a foreigner that intends to do business in Nigeria must also register with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) and where he/she wants to live in Nigeria would require a business permit from the Ministry of Interior. SYLARM TECHY has a full registration package for foreigners package that includes all the necessary permits, registered address, bank account opening etc
Yes, the following companies will be exempted after application for exemption:
- Foreign companies invited to Nigeria by or with the approval of the Federal Government to execute any specified individual project;
- Foreign companies which are in Nigeria for the execution of specific individual loan projects on behalf of a donor country or international organization;
- Foreign government-owned companies engaged solely in export promotion activities; and
- Engineering consultants and technical experts engaged on any individual specialist project under contract with any of the governments in the Federation or any of their agencies or with any other body or person, where such contract has been approved by the Federal Government.
LP is a partnership arrangement with at least one general partner and at least one limited partner. The liabilities of a general partner are unlimited, while the liabilities of a limited partner are limited, unless he partakes in the management of the partnership. An LP should consist of not more than 20 persons and the name of an LP should end with the word “Limited Partnership” or the abbreviation “LP”.
The LLP is a partnership arrangement with a legal personality, separate from the partners. The liabilities of the partners of an LLP are limited to the amount agreed to be contributed or outstanding in the event of winding up. An LLP shall have at least two “designated partners” who would be responsible for compliance with the requirements of the Act by the LLP. The designated partners should be individuals, at least one of whom must be resident in Nigeria
The information required are as follows:
- The name of the limited liability partnership
- The proposed business of the limited liability partnership
- The address of the registered office of the limited liability partnership
- The name and address of each of the persons who are partners of the limited liability partnership on incorporation;
- The name and address of the persons who are to be designated partners of the limited liability partnership on incorporation