How to Register Your Business in Nigeria with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)

A DIY (Do It Yourself) Method

Having your business registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission is a very important action to take as a business owner in Nigeria because of the following reasons:

· Operational license: For a business to successfully apply for a business license, it’s important that such business have a certificate of incorporation.

· Business Expansion: Grants and loans from investors or lenders can only be offered to businesses that are registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

· Personal Liability Protection: When you have business registered with the CAC, as the business owner, you have a separate legal identity from the business. This means that in a case where liability arises from the business, the owner will not be held personally liable or responsible.

Having known the reason why it’s important that your business be registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), let’s get to seeing what is CAC and its role in case you don’t have a previous knowledge about it.

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is an independent governmental agency that is saddled with the responsibility of regulating the formation and management of companies, businesses, churches, mosques and non-governmental organizations (profit and non-profit).

Now let’s dive into the major purpose of this guide: How to do Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Registration for your business

Step 1: Get a business name

A business name is the unique identity that differentiates your business from other businesses. In other words, it’s your no. 1 brand identity. You can come up with at least three business name (you would eventually go for one) for your business depending on the nature of your business, your vision and mission. This is the very first step to be taken for you to commence your business CAC registration.

Step 2: Check for your business name availability on CAC

The Corporate Affairs Commission does not permit two or more businesses to share the same business name. For example, if a business has been registered with CAC as ABC Limited, you can’t also have your business registered with the name ABC Limited. You can only have it registered with a few elements of uniqueness such as ABC Integrated Services Limited, ABC Bakers Limited, etc.

So, to finally conclude on a business name that you would use for your brand registration with CAC, you would need to search up the intended business name on CAC business name directory.

This can be done by:

· Heading to search.cac.gov.ng

· Filling in the name in the search box

· Clicking the search button to available list of businesses that are already registered with that name.

If there are no businesses registered with the name, you would get an empty list as response to your query and this implies that you are good to have the name registered with CAC for your business.

In a case where another business has already been registered with that name with CAC, you may decide to make a few variations to the name e.g. if you tried searching for ABC Limited and you found a business that is already registered with that name, you can decide to opt for ABC World Limited, ABC Bakes Ltd, or any form that you prefer.

You may also decide to brainstorm on another business name if you don’t want to do the above option.

Step 3: Download Mintyn App to commence your business CAC registration.

Mintyn is a Fintech business company that is developed to help individuals and business owners bank seamlessly and have their businesses run smoothly.

One of the major reason why Mintyn was developed is to have business owners worry less about legally setting up their businesses and focusing on the other aspect of their business growth.

As a business owner, with Mintyn, you can:

· Have your business registered with CAC.

· Get a free corporate/business bank account with zero account opening cost, no minimum balance required, and no paperwork.

· Get a Tax Identification Number (TIN), etc.

· Transfer funds complete free.

· Schedule money transfers for free.

· Manage your transactions seamlessly i.e. you can accurately keep track of your expenses and incomes.

· Set up a payroll system for your employees.

· Set up a payment schedule for vendors, etc.

Getting your business registered with CAC via Mintyn is a complete DIY (Do It Yourself) process that is easy, faster, flexible, and requires no stress. Mintyn gets your business registered with Corporate Affairs Commission within 10–15 working days.

The following steps are required to register your business with CAC on Mintyn:

1 Download and install Mintyn app via this link:

2 Launch the app and click the Create account button located on the homepage.

3 Click the “Register your business” button on the next page.

4 Enter your phone number on the next page.

5. On the proceeding page, you’ll be asked to select your business type (Sole proprietor, Enterprise, or Incorporated Trustee). Sole proprietorship (perfect for businesses owned by one person), Enterprise (perfect for private or public companies limited by shares), and Incorporated Trustee (perfect for schools and associations, research groups, sport clubs, etc.). The cost of each type of registration differs and are as follows:

Sole proprietorship — ₦22,000;

Enterprise — ₦69,000;

Incorporate Trustee — ₦100,000.

6. Going further, you will be asked to fill out your business details for your CAC registration. On the business details form, you will need to fill in three (3) business names that you’ve proposed for your brand, the business description (i.e. what your business is about, the kind of products or services that you render), your business address, the city and state where your business is located, the number of directors (if you’re not the only one that would be directing the business) and finally a referral code (Enter “615280” as the referral code).

7. After doing this, the next line of action is filling out the director’s detail. Here you will need to upload your signature (image to be taken on white background), passport photograph and a valid means of identification such as National ID (NIN), Voters’ Card, International Passport, or Drivers’ license.

7. Moving on, you’ll be prompted to fill in the delivery address where you want Mintyn to come deliver your Certificate of Incorporation from CAC. You will also need to input your phone number and email address to be kept abreast when your business has been successfully registered with CAC and other information from Mintyn.

8. On the following page (Terms and Condition page), you will need to check the Privacy Policy box to confirm that all the information that you’ve provided to register your business are correct and are your business information. Hit the Submit button after checking the box to proceed to the payment page.

On the payment page, you’ll be showed to payment options (Pay using Mintyn account or Pay using any debit card). If you are not an existing Mintyn user, you will have to make the payment using a debit card.

On selecting Pay using any debit card, you will be prompted to Flutterwave payment gateway where you will then need to select from either Pay with Card or Pay with USSD.

If you select the Pay with Card option, you will need to fill in your debit card details and then hit the Pay button to successfully make the payment.

If Pay with USSD is selected, you will need to select the bank you would be using to transfer the money. Depending on your selected bank, the USSD code for the transfer would be issued to you to make the payment.

Once payment has been made, you’ll be contacted by Mintyn and work would immediately commence on the application and your business will be registered with CAC within 10–15 working days.

This is how simple it is to have your business registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with no stress, all done by yourself and from your mobile phone. If you’ve been looking for the easiest way to get your business registered with CAC, I can confidently say that there is no easier way than this.

So, take no further thoughts, get your business registered with CAC today.

Cheers to your business success.

NB: Remember to use the referral code “615280” in the space provided during your business registration.