1
Step by Step Guide on
How To Register Your
Business Name With The
Corporate Affairs
Commission (CAC) In
21 Days Or Less,
Without A Lawyer And
With Less Than N10,000
By Egwim Ndubuisi
http://www.NewDimensionLife.com
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
2
Author’s Special Permission: Egwim Ndubuisi grants you the right to distribute this
material to upstart Nigerian Entrepreneurs, Friends and any other interested
entrepreneurs on ONE CONDITION: that nothing is changed in the material.
Distribution must be done just the way it is. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The author and publisher have used his best efforts in preparing this report.
The author and publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to
the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this report.
The information contained in this report is strictly for educational purposes.
Therefore, if you wish to apply ideas contained in this report, you are taking full
Responsibility for your actions. Corporate Affairs Commission reserves the rights to change their mode of
operation.
Hello Friend,
Thank you for downloading this report. Let’s go straight to business.
Proper registration is one of the important things many small business
owners neglect to their detriment. This is because a good number of them
think it’s not important and some others who think it’s important assume it
will be a very difficult task.
Why bother registering with CAC?
The importance of registering a business can never be over-emphasized.
 For one, when it comes to doing serious business, many agencies will
never take you serious if your company is not registered.
 Secondly, you might have to discovered that people and that includes
you and I, feel more comfortable paying for services and products
into a corporate account with the name of an organisation than
paying into Individual account. I once missed an important sale a
couple of years ago because when my prospect made up his mind to
buy, the account number I sent him was an individual account in my
name. He thought it too risky because it was a sizable amount
involved.
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
3
People feel if the account is in a corporate name, the organization can
be traced if the transaction went foul. If you register your company,
you can use the documents to open a corporate account with less
stress.
 Moreover, if you have a business idea and you go ahead and register
the business name, even if you spend 2 years perfecting the plan and
raising the capital, for it, those 2 years from when the business was
registered can count for you as years of experience.
In this manual, I will be revealing to you simple steps you can take to
register your business name with the corporate affairs commission in
less than 21 days.
Customized Bulk SMS:
Advertising and Business Communication just got a lot cheaper
and more effective. Reach your prospective clients in a cheap
and professional way with Bulk SMS. Check out our BULK SMS
service on:
http://www.newdimensionlife.com or call 08063411770
Read my blog on:
www.newdimensionlife.com/blog and join the discussion Forum on
www.newdimensionlife.com/forums
A little about CAC:
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) was established by the
Companies and Allied matters act, which was promulgated in 1990 to
regulate the formation and management of companies in Nigeria. The
CAC is in charge of registering businesses in Nigeria. They have offices
all over Nigeria and in this report, I have included the addresses of their
offices in different locations in Nigeria, so finding the one nearest to you
should be very simple.
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
4
Registering a Business name
If you want to register a business name, you can do it in 2 ways.
 One is to engage the services of a lawyer and he will get it done for
you with about N10,000. The trouble is that the next time you want
to register another business name, you will have to pay him another
N10,000
If you are a serial entrepreneur with many business ideas flowing in you,
you will be spending too much money for this when you can actually
spend less by understanding the information I am going to share with you
here.
 The second way to get your business name registered is to do it
yourself. Yes, you can walk into any branch of the corporate affairs
commission and you will get your business registered.
The trouble with this is that if you do not know the secrets of going about
it, you will spend months trying to get your business name registered. A
friend of mine spent over 6 months trying to register his business name
because he worked through an agent who really wasted his time and
messed him up real bad. This report will show you how to avoid all that.
For the sake of clarity, let me make it clear that this process is to get your
business name registered and not a limited liability company or an NGO.
Getting started:
Once you are ready to register your business name with the corporate
affairs commission, the first thing you should do is to go to their office
nearest to you. Don’t worry about the location. Just read on I have
included a comprehensive list of 19 office location of CAC around the
country.
 Walk in to the nearest branch to you and ask for name reservation
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
5
form. It costs just Two Hundred Naira only. You will be given a
receipt and a form. On the form, you will be asked to fill in a few
details. Details like...
 Your Name
 Your Address
 Your Desired Business Names
 A Space To Fill The Type Of Business You Want to Register
(Choose Enterprises/Business Name)
You will be required to choose two business names. The reason is that if
one is not available, they can reserve the other for you. If none of them is
available, you will need to do it all over again. You will have to pay the
N200 again and you will have to wait for the result.
How long does it take to reserve a name with CAC?
Having been using the Internet for about 8 years now and working as an
Internet Marketing Consultant for some time now, I have had to register a
number of domains for websites. It’s more like registering your business
name online. It generally takes just a few minutes if you know what you
are doing. When I came to register my Business offline, I imagined it
would take the same speed I used to do online registrations or just a bit
slower. I was shocked to discover I had to wait for almost 2 weeks in this
our dotcom age before they could search their database to know if my
chosen name was available.
When you ask for a name reservation, it takes about 2 weeks before the
results are returned. It is sometimes as fast as one week or 10 days but it
generally takes 2 weeks. Now imagine if your chosen business name is not
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
6
available, you have to go through that 2 week process again. If the new
one is not available as well, you have to go over the process... again...
and... again. That is why it takes people a long time to sort out.
So How Will You Prevent That From Happening To You?
Good question and I'm glad you asked. What you need to do is to choose a
name no one else would have chosen. Now, you have to be creative and
ingenious about it. If you choose just any name, I can assure you someone
has registered it.
Don't even think about registering names like these...
 Obyno Enterprises
 Prosperity Ventures
 Good Hope Enterprises
 Adamu Hassan Ventures
 Wealth Resources Consulting
If you choose names like these, them, there is a high probability that they
have already been taken by someone else and as an entrepreneur, you
don’t have time to waste experimenting on new names at every 2 week
interval. Let me give you an example:
A friend of mine wanted to register “Success Resources International” and
he was so confident it would be available. To his surprise after 2 weeks, it
was already taken.
Okay, if that sounds common, let me tell you this. I showed someone else
through the registration process and when he went to CAC, he came up
with a name he felt was unique, ARIF ventures, but the name was already
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
7
chosen.
I guess you understand me better now when I say you’ve got to be
creative. These days, I don’t just wake up and rush down to CAC with a
new name. I think hard and long before I submit the form.
Having sorted out the name issue and having submitted your form, you
will have to wait till the result comes out. There is nothing you can do
about that. You just have to wait. All I'll advise you to do is to get ready so
when the results come out, you will be prepared to register immediately.
What you need
Prepare
 2 passport photographs
 Stapler (believe it or not, some CAC branches do not have)
 The details of a partner (you cannot register alone, add someone...
anyone)
 The partner's photographs.
 Your address (you can use your home address)
 Telephone number (use GSM)
 Local government area and a few other requirements.
Why be prepared ahead of time?
Majority of upstart entrepreneurs will fold their hands while the 2 weeks
passes but I advise you to work while you wait. Start gathering the
materials you need one by one. Why? You see, your name reservation is
just for a number of days, you have to register properly before the grace
period expires and someone else can take up that name. We want to get
your business name registered in record time so we want to move faster
than normal. When name reservation results come out, what people
normally do is to start studying the new documents they are provided with
to fill.
If you prepare early, you will get your registration done once the results
are out.
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
8
Important Question! What is your Business?
I was a little confused at this point. I didn’t know how to classify my
Business. I am an Internet Marketing Consultant but that’s not all I do. I
blog and publish online and also speak to Youth in Seminars.
I wondered which one to leave out and which names to use but you see the
CAC requires that you state what your business is all about. You have to
state at least one thing.
In the past you could state as much as 20. I have seen a company that
registered in the early days of CAC.
This Consulting firm is licensed to do more than 20 businesses including
Car manufacturing but nowadays the rules of the game has changed.
The maximum number of business you can list is three. They want to
know what your business is about before they can register the name.
Don’t waste your time filling things like Internet Marketing, Brand
and Strategy Consulting and Infopreneur in that form. That would
just be a waste of your valuable time.
There are some kinds of already laid down business objects that are
allowed for a business name. It is up to you to find an object that best
describes what your business is about.
Here are the objects allowed by the CAC








Advertising/Public Relations
Agricultural Produce
Agricultural Tools, Machines And Allied Products
Alternative Medical Practice
Aluminium Manufacturing
Architects/Town Planners
Auto Dealers
Auto Mechanics And Rewiring Services
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
9




































Auto Spare Parts Dealers
Bakery And Fast Foods
Beauty Industry (Salon, Pedic, Manic, Barbing ETC)
Bookshops/Stationery Stores
Car Washing Services
Carpentry/Woodworks
Chattered Secretaries
Commission Agents
Computer Training, Sales And Services
Cosmetic Manufacturers/Dealers
Day Care Centre
Dealers And Distributors
Electrical/Electronic Equipments Dealers
Entertainment Industry/Events Managers
Estate Agency/Maintenance
Fashion Designers
Fish Farming/Fisheries
Food Products And Processing
General Construction (Build/Civil Engr. Contractors)
General Contracts
General merchandise/Trading
General Tax Consultants
Guidance And Counselling
Gymnastics And Stress Management
Horticulture/Gardening/Landscaping/Equipment Services
Hospitals/Clinics
Hotel/Hospitality Industry
Human Resource Manager
Import/Export Of Goods And Services
Industrial Chemical Supply And Service
Interior/Exterior Decorations
Internet Service Providers (Cyber Cafe)
Jewellers
Land And Quantity Surveyors
Laundry/Dry Cleaning Services
Legal Practice And Consultancy
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
10






















Livestock Management
Management Consultants
Maternity Home
Mechanics/Welding
Medical And Pharm. Products (Manufacturing, Sales And Services)
Medical Services/Laboratory
Others
Patent Medicine Store/Chemist
Petroleum Products Sales/Distribution
Pharmaceutical Manufacture/Services
Photography/Photo Equipment
Plastic Manufacturing
Poultry Farming
Printing/Publishing
Restaurant/Catering Services
Road Transportation
Schools (Nursery, Primary And Secondary Schools)
Supermarkets/Departmental Stores
Textile Manufacturers/Distributors
Travel Agents
Veterinary Clinic/Services
Water Works/Borehole Drillers
Most businesses will fall under one of these, if not, just use General
Merchandise.
Customized Bulk SMS:
Advertising and Business Communication just got a lot cheaper
and more effective. Reach your prospective clients in a cheap
and professional way with Bulk SMS. Check out our BULK SMS
service on:
http://www.newdimensionlife.com or call 08063411770
Read my blog on:
www.newdimensionlife.com/blog and join the discussion Forum on
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
11
www.newdimensionlife.com/forums
Now You Are Prepared...
Once your name reservation is out, speak to any officer there and you will
be given a file and some documents to fill. In some CAC branches, they
would have given you this form and file right from the first day you
applied for name reservation.
You can fill the form right away with your name, phone number, and
address including LGA, partner’s details, and passport photographs (you
will staple it and make sure you write your name behind the passports and
sign them).
After you're done filling the documents, you can then submit for what is
called “Verification”. You just need to submit. It's no longer in your hands.
Depending on the CAC branch you go to, the verification process time will
vary. It is usually done within an hour so it is something you can wait for.
You can ask them there so they can tell you how long it would take.
Maximum is a day.
What they look for at the verification process are things like your objects,
how you filled the form and so on. If you filled everything properly, your
verification process would be a smooth, onetime thing.
Once you pass the verification process, you will be required to pay your
registration fees. As at the time of writing this report, it costs N4,000 for
your registration. You can ask for the current price but I can bet it is well
under N10,000
Right at their office, you will pay the fee and obtain a receipt; you will
submit your files and documents (because they will return it after the
verification). You will be asked to come back in about one week for your
certificate.
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
12
Can You Beat That? It’s that simple!
Just go back home or wherever and come back when you were asked to.
On the day, you go there and you will be asked to sign. They will give you
your certificate as well as some other documents you can keep. You will
need such documents when you want to open a company bank account and
for some other purposes.
That is it. Now go out there to register your business names. You can
register as many as possible and you can even make money as a Corporate
Affairs and Business name registration consultant. This way, you register
others for a fee of about N10,000 to N15,000 each depending on you.
I wish you the best.
Egwim Ndubuisi
http://www.NewDimensionLife.com
Customized Bulk SMS:
Advertising and Business Communication just got a lot cheaper
and more effective. Reach your prospective clients in a cheap
and professional way with Bulk SMS. Check out our BULK SMS
service on:
http://www.newdimensionlife.com or call 08063411770
Read my blog on:
www.newdimensionlife.com/blog and join the discussion Forum on
www.newdimensionlife.com/forums
19 CAC office Locations in Nigeria
LAGOS
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
13
IKEJA: Elephant Cement House, Assbifi Road, Alausa Ikeja
MARINA: 9TH Floor, UBA House, No. 57 Marina-Lagos Island.
RIVERS
112 Aba Road, P/Harcourt, River State
OYO
Premium House, Jericho Road, Eleyele-Ibadan, Oyo State.
EDO
55, Akpakava Street, Benin City, Edo State.
ENUGU
1 Temple Avenue, Off Opara Avenue, Enugu(Behind First Bank).
IMO
7/9 Wetheral Road, Owerri, Imo State.
DELTA
Along Anwai/Illah Okpanam Road, Opp. Ministry Of Works, P.M.B
95095, Asaba-Delta State.
BENUE
37 Barracks Road, Makurdi, Benue State.
KANO
52, Unity Road, Kano.
KADUNA
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
14
22, Bida Road, National Bank Building, Kaduna.
PLATEAU
21, Murtala Mohammed Way, Jos, Plateau State.
SOKOTO
No. 3, Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki Road, Sokoto.
BORNO
No. 25, Sir Kashim Ibrahim Way, Chari House, Maiduguri, Borno State.
ADAMAWA
Galadima, Aminu Way, Jimeta-Yola, Adamawa State.
BAUCHI
Ground Floor, Nicon House, No. 26, Ahmed Abdulkadir Road, Bauchi
State.
AKWA IBOM
131, Udo Umana Road, Uyo- Akwa Ibom State.
CROSS RIVER
No. 10, Calabar Road, Okoi Arikpo House, 3RD Floor, M/M Way By
Central Bank.
ONDO
87, Alagbaka Quarters, Akure.
KWARA
Adama Sa'adu's House, Ahmadu Bello Way, Ilorin, Kwara State.
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com
15
Compiled by Egwim Ndubuisi
http://www.NewDimensionLife.com
Egwim Ndubuisi
CAC Registration Guide
newdimensionlife.com