How to register your startup with CAC

A business name is you, trading under a name. It isn't a separate legal person, so you are personally liable for its debts, and you pay its tax as your own. Banks and investors are also slower to put money into one.⁶

A private company limited by shares is a legal person of its own. It can hold the domain, the app store accounts and the bank account, and owners hold shares instead of the whole business. Since the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, a small company can have a single director who is also the only shareholder. It doesn't have to appoint a company secretary, and the smallest issued share capital for a private company is ₦100,000. A small company here means turnover of no more than ₦120 million and net assets of no more than ₦60 million.⁵

Think about where the project is going. A tailoring app you run for your own shop in Aba can live happily as a business name for years. A fintech app you hope to raise money for, or sell to a buyer in Lagos or London, should be a company from early on. Moving assets out of your name later is slow and annoying.

CAC publishes a summary of its fees. For a business name it lists ₦500 to reserve the name and ₦10,000 to register, which includes certified copies of the papers. A name with a restricted word in it costs ₦5,000 to reserve.¹

For a private company with issued share capital of ₦1 million or less, registration is ₦10,000, and name reservation is ₦500 again.¹ You also pay stamp duty on the share capital during registration.⁴

CAC said in 2025 that it was reviewing some of its fees, with changes from 1 August that year.⁷ Treat these numbers as a guide and check the amount the portal shows before you pay. Agents will quote you much more. That's their service charge on top, not the government fee.

The portal asks for each document as you go, so it won't let you skip one. It still helps to have everything ready before you sit down, ideally on a laptop with steady light and data.

Have two or three names you'd be happy with, in case your first choice is taken. You'll need your National Identification Number, since the new portal starts with the NIN of the owner or director.⁷ Keep a scan of your ID close, along with your home address, a business address and one line on what the business does.

For a company, add the details of every director and shareholder, and decide how many shares each person holds before you file. If two of you are building the project together, sit down and agree the split now, while it's easy to talk about.

Search the name on the CAC website first. Then reserve it on the registration portal. CAC aims to answer a name search within four working hours.²

Next, fill in the pre-registration form online and upload your documents. For a business name, CAC's page says you can do this yourself without a lawyer.³ Pay the filing fee through the portal's payment gateway, and for a company, the stamp duty too.⁴

CAC's published target for a new registration is 24 working hours, counted from when it has every document it needs or from when you answer its query.² When it's approved, you download an electronic certificate and a certified extract of your details.³ Save both somewhere safe. Paystack, your bank and any buyer will ask for them.

In July 2025 CAC said its new portal would deliver certificates by email in under 30 minutes once the NIN checks out.⁷ Some people get that. Others wait a day or two. Don't plan your launch around the faster number.

Registration isn't the end. Every business name and company files annual returns each year. CAC lists ₦3,000 for a business name's return and ₦5,000 for a small company's. Miss it and penalties stack up every day, ₦150 a day for a business name and ₦250 for a small company, plus a one-off fee of ₦5,000.¹ CAC removed over 400,000 companies from its register in 2025 for being inactive or not complying,⁸ so put the date in your calendar.

Open a bank account in the business's name, then move your payment account across. If you started on a Paystack Starter account before registering, our guide to Paystack and Flutterwave explains what changes when you upgrade.

A buyer pays for things they can take over. If the domain, the code and the store accounts sit in a company's name, the buyer can buy the company's shares or have the company transfer each asset, and nothing is tied to your personal email. If everything is in your own name, every account has to be moved by hand.

Our guide to building a project to sell covers the rest of what buyers look for.

On Prow: Prow doesn't ask for CAC papers to post a project or list it for sale. Posting is free. To list, you prove you own the project's link, then pay a one-off listing fee: ₦10,000 for Early-stage or ₦25,000 for Basic. When it sells, you and the buyer each pay Prow 1.5% of the price, at least ₦5,000 each, and the money is held in escrow with EscrowPay until the buyer confirms the handover. EscrowPay's own fee is split between you.

• You've picked a business name or a company based on where the project is going.
• You have your NIN, ID, photo, addresses and two spare names ready.
• Co-founders have agreed the share split before filing.
• You've checked the fee on the portal, not an agent's price list.
• You've saved the certificate and the certified extract.
• The annual return date is in your calendar.