The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has extended the window for registration of business names at the reduced cost of N5, 000.00 by 90 days.
The Commission said this was in furtherance of its efforts to deepen the benefits of its reform initiatives and as support for the growth of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) The Commission, under its Business Incentive Strategy (BIS), had reduced the cost of Business Name registration from N10,000 to N5,000 for a period of three months (October 1 to 31st December 31, 2018).
The BIS is aimed at creating a window for MSMEs to formalise their businesses which would enable them own corporate account with banks, have access to loans, grants and other government interventions.
Upon the expiration of the initial three months window, the Commission received several requests from States and other agencies seeking extension of the 50 per cent fee reduction promo.
In view of the benefits of BIS coupled with the demand for extension by stakeholders, it became imperative for the federal government to further extend the period by another three months (1st January 1 to March 31, 2019) to enable more MSMEs formalise their businesses.
Following the Commission’s request for extension, the minister of industry, trade and investment, Okechukwu Enelamah approved a three months’ extension of the BIS for registration of MSMEs from 1st January to March, 2019.
The CAC also urged members of the public to take advantage of the extension to register their business names at the reduced cost of N5,000 after the name reservation of N500.