How to register small agri-businesses

Registering businesses seems to be a big deal for especially small Nigerian entrepreneurs who feel they would be extorted or required to provide documents that would be hard to provide.

However, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), an agency responsible for registering new businesses has made the registration easier via their official website or by paying a visit to their office to pick up registration forms.

A small private company with a share capital of N1 million or less could get registered for only N10,000, while registration of private company with share capital above N1 million and up to N500million are required to pay N5,000 for every N1 million share capital or part thereof.

Similarly, for agribusiness entrepreneurs with very little capital not having a share capital, registration of their company is N20,000.

Before contacting CAC, one has to determine what the company would be, e.g. Private Limited Company (Ltd.), Public Limited Company (PLC) among other options. The choice of company should be in line with the company’s goals and long term objectives. Upcoming agribusiness entrepreneurs that are into packaging and value addition of agricultural products or other meaningful ventures need to:

Pick a name that can be branded and easily memorable to people

Purchase and accurately the Availability Form (AC1), contact their staff in case you don’t understand some parameters

Name reservation costs, and business name registration costs N10,000.

Make sure to keep copies of the form for future references

Make sure to check back at the CAC office fill you submitted the AC1 form after three days of submission to know if the proposed company name is available, otherwise the process has to be repeated again.

If the business name is available, proceed with registration as required for the business

The registration form should then be taken to court for attestation which should be submitted at the CAC

The next is to get certificate of registration which should be ready after a week or more.

The benefits of registering an agribusiness cannot be over emphasised, it is useful in establishing a business bank account for easier transactions with customers.

Secondly, registered businesses facilitate loan acquisition from banks or other investors, in addition to creating a form of assurance for one’s customers.

Further, it upholds the image of the brand and gives protection against legal liabilities.