LEGAL AID: OWNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS

PRELIMINARIES TO OWNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS

Owning your own business sounds great! What will be greater however is ensuring your business is built on solid grounds. Here are a few things you should consider before making that leap:

1)      1) Name of business- the name of your business is important for the purpose of identity. As a smart business owner, you should ensure your business name is unique to you so there wouldn’t be any confusion of your market with someone else’s.  You should also ensure your proposed business name is available for use at the Corporate Affairs Commission. This you can do personally or procuring the services of a Legal Practitioner. When you are certain your proposed business name is available, then you reserve the name to ensure other businesses do not hijack it before you complete the entire procedure. This service is available to you at a fee.  Please check out the Corporate Affairs Commission website for the scheduling of fees at new.cac.gov.ng

2)      2) Type of business you want to run- there are different business forms you can venture into like: Sole Proprietorship; popularly referred to as the one man business, private company limited by shares; this business form provide you with a legal identity separate from your person and allowing you trade with a minimum capital of N500, 000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira). It allows you a larger control of your business. You can also decide to run a public limited liability company which has similar features with its private counterpart except for some slight differences; e.g in terms of capital, you need more money and your ability to control your business is limited as you would usually find plenty shareholders here including ensuring compliance with government regulations geared at protecting innocent investors.

3)      3) Taxation- you will find that you cannot run a lot of businesses in Nigeria without evidence of your tax return. So be sure your affairs are in order in this regard so as not to run into hurdles. Visit your nearest State Revenue Board or the Federal Inland Revenue Services to inquire about your tax liabilities.

4)      4) Miscellaneous matters- ensure you get all documentation that may be required by the commission in order. Submit these forms and pay requisite fees and you are on your way to realizing your dreams.

PS- to ensure a hitch-free registration of your business name or company, you are advised to use a qualified practitioner who is more informed about the technicalities of the procedure. This as a piece was aimed at catching your interest and getting you closer to making that move today.