How to Register Your Business With the CAC

Do you have a profitable business idea and what to register that business  with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)?

The Corporate Affairs Commission is a body responsible for the management, regulation and formation of companies in Nigeria.

This body approves different companies that have followed the procedures upon registration so far the business is legal.

The Corporate Affairs Commission has an abbreviation called “CAC”. This body was formed in 1990 by the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1968 to regulate the Management and formation of different companies in Nigeria.

The Corporate Affairs Commission has a vision to be a world class company’s registry and then providing an excellent registration and regulatory services to companies in Nigeria.

CAC has government agencies among its boards which some of them include; Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN), Federal Ministry of Finance, Nigerian Bar Association and others.

In order to have a legal business or company in Nigeria, you must have tested the concept of your business, and then you can register with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

In this post, you would find a guide on how to register your business with the Corporate Affairs Commission below.

How to Register Your Business With the Corporate Affairs Commission CAC

One of the benefits of registering your business with the Corporate Affairs Commission is that, it makes your business legal and expose your business to other big companies throughout Nigeria.

You need to know that you would be required to provide some important documents when registering your business.

Also, when you’ve successfully registered your business with the CAC, your business would be well recognized nationwide and listed among the list of Companies in Nigeria (CAC).

For example, if you want to start a modern car transport company or even financial entities like banks in Nigeria, you’ll need to register your business with the CAC.

Here below you would find the notable steps on how to register your Business with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

STEP 1: Business or Company Name Creation

• This is where the journey begins, think of a name you would want your company or business to have but make sure it is not too long.
• After forming your name, you need to be sure that no other business or company has that particular name. Then you would need to conduct a public search on the name you’ve formed, so as to ensure no one has used it before you.
• Click on http://publicsearch.cac.gov.ng to conduct the public search.
• You would be required to type in the name you’ve formed in the space given and a result would come out to specify whether the name has been taken already by another user or has not been used by any other user.
• If it has not been used before, you are good to go but if it has been used by someone else, you would have to change your business/company name by forming another name before going to the next step.

STEP 2: Creation of Account With the Corporate Affairs Commission

• There is a fast link to the registration page of the Corporate Affairs Commission website which is services.cac.ng.
• After clicking the link, you would see and click on Create Account on the home page of the portal, which would require you to fill some of your details.
• It is very important that you provide your working email address in order to receive a confirmation link, which would be sent to you as soon as you fill and submit your details.
• After filling your details, you would click on register. A confirmation link would be sent to the email address you provided. When you receive the confirmation link, click on it and it would confirm you and return you back to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) portal.

STEP 3: Log into Your Account After Account Creation

• Enter your registered username, password and click on log in after you’ve been re-directed to the CAC portal.
• Before moving on to the next step, there is a quick thing you need to should which you would generate your Availability Serial Code or Number.
• Locate ‘Action’ on your screen, click on it and wait for it to load. You would find ‘download your name Approval’, click on it. There in the document downloaded you would find a piece of writings which would contain your Availability Serial Code or Number.

STEP 4: Registering your Company or Business Name

• Click on Continue and there you would see reserve name, click on it as well. You would then be required to fill some of your details so as to log in with your registered profile details.
• This is where the actual company and business name registration begin. When logged in, you would click on registration and under this registration process, you would need to select a classification by choosing either business name or company.
• Any of which you select, you would be required to enter your Availability Serial Code or Number which you generated in step 3, then click on continue.
• The next thing to do here is to fill the details of your business or company’s boards, for example; Directors, Proprietor, Secretary, chairman and the likes.
• After filling all the details correctly, you would need to choose a payment option (either to generate a Remita for payment or to pay with your debit card).
• When that is done, your business name and company reservation would be secured. But you need to complete the remaining registration within 60 days so as not to get your registration cancelled.
• After the payment for reservation, you would see download stamp document on your screen, click on it to download and print the electronic stamped document which you paid for.

Also Read: Top payment gateways in Nigeria

STEP 5: Uploading on Document Upload Interface

• In the previous step, you would have gotten your electronic stamped document after paying. Go to cac.gov.ng, there you would find upload on document upload interface or a similar phrase, click on it and enter your Availability Serial Code or Number.
• Then, you would need to select an originating office or pick-up office which your certificate and CTC’s would be sent to, for you to pick up. Then attach all the required documents and click on submit to complete the process.
• The next step is to wait for Approval which would eventually be approved in a matter of time, so far your documents are screened and accepted.

STEP 6: Awaiting Approval

• The uploaded documents would be examined by the Corporate Affairs Commission.
• You could keep up with the Approval by checking your profile status. You would see any of these on your status; Not Submitted, Submitted, Pending Approval or Approved.
• In the case where it has been approved, you would approach the pick-up office or the originating office which you had selected in order to get your Certificate and CTC’s.

NOTE: You would need to go to the pick-up office or originating office with the original documents you uploaded on document upload interface, so as to submit in exchange for your Certificate and CTC’s.

Conclusion

There above is an easy guideline on how to register your business with the Corporate Affairs Commission. By following the steps carefully, there is a higher chance that your registration would be approved.

You should bear in mind that not all businesses would be approved by the Corporate Affairs Commission because they work in line with the Laws of Nigeria which doesn’t permit any illegal business.

Also, you need to note that your registered company must not be used to defraud people and other companies, as this would make your company to be penalized by the Corporate Affairs Commission.

Did you find this post useful? If you have any other question or opinion concerning this post, kindly use the comment box below and let us hear you out.