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Registration, a bank account in the business name, and a way to collect money. Three steps that depend on each other, in the order they actually happen.
Plenty of successful traders have run shops for years without registering anything, and if that is you, nothing here says you have been doing it wrong.
Registration matters the moment you want one of these: a bank account in your business name, a POS terminal or payment link, customers who need a proper invoice before they can pay you, or credit from a supplier or a bank. Every one of those asks for the same documents, which is why they all trace back to one step.
If none of those are on your list yet, this guide will keep. If any of them are, it is the first thing to do, not the last.
This is the only decision on the page that is hard to reverse cheaply, so make it against where you want to be in two years, not where you are this month.
| Option | What it is | Suits you if | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Name | Registration of the name you trade under. You and the business are the same person in law. | One owner, a shop or small trading business, no outside investors, and you mainly need a business bank account and something to show customers and suppliers. | There is no separation between you and the business. If the business owes money, that debt is yours personally. |
| Limited Company (Ltd) | A separate legal entity with shareholders and directors. The company owns its own assets and carries its own debts. | Partners or investors, contracts with larger companies and government, or plans to raise money or take on real credit. | More expensive to register and more to keep up with afterwards: annual filings, proper records, and a company account that must be run properly. |
Each step needs the one before it. Doing them out of order is what turns a week into a month.
Names are checked for availability before they are reserved, and the first choice is very often already taken. Go in with three or four options. Avoid anything that suggests you are a bank, a government body, or a chartered institution, because those are restricted.
Registration is done online, on the Corporate Affairs Commission portal. You can file it yourself or use an accredited agent, who charges their own fee on top. Fees and processing times change, so take them from the portal on the day rather than from any blog, including this one.
What comes out of registration is what every bank and payment provider will ask you for afterwards. Save clean digital copies the day you get them. Your Tax Identification Number is issued as part of the process, and you will need it more often than you expect.
Take your registration documents, your own identification and proof of address. Requirements differ between banks and a limited company is asked for more than a business name, so call the branch first and ask for their exact list before you travel.
With a registered business and a matching account, terminals and payment links become available to you. Choose on settlement time and on how quickly someone answers when a payment goes missing, not only on the advertised charge.
Business money into the business account, personal money out of your personal one. This is the step that decides whether any of the rest was worth doing, and it is the one most traders skip.
Registration is filed on the Corporate Affairs Commission portal at pre.cac.gov.ng. We do not quote fees or processing times here on purpose, because they change and a wrong figure would cost you a wasted trip. Take both from the portal on the day.
Most shops end up using all three. What matters is knowing what each one really costs you, and that the cost is not only the advertised charge.
Before you rely on transfers at the counter, read the fake alert and shop fraud guide. Confirming money yourself is the whole job, and it is where the losses happen.
None of these hurt on the day you make them. All of them hurt later, usually when you are in a hurry.
It works until it does not. You cannot tell profit from salary, you cannot show anyone a real trading history when you need credit, and heavy business traffic through a personal account can attract restrictions from your bank.
Traders register a business name, then discover the contract or the investor in front of them needs a limited company. Decide against where you want to be in two years, not where you are this month.
Registration is not the end of it. There are annual filings to keep the registration in good standing, and letting them lapse is expensive to fix later, usually at the exact moment you need the certificate for something urgent. Ask CAC or your agent what falls due and when, and put it in your calendar.
Plenty of traders run shops for years without registering, and nothing about this guide says you are doing something wrong today. Registration matters when you want a bank account in the business name, a payment terminal or payment link, customers who need a proper invoice, or credit from a supplier or a bank. If none of those are on your list yet, it can wait. If any of them are, it is the first step and everything else depends on it.
For a single-owner shop that mainly needs a business account and a bit of credibility, a business name is usually enough and is cheaper and simpler to keep up. Choose a limited company if you have partners or investors, if you want your personal assets separated from business debts, or if you intend to sell to larger companies and government, which often will not contract with anything else.
Both change, so we deliberately do not quote them here. Check the current fee and timeline on the CAC portal on the day you file. If you use an accredited agent, their service charge is separate from the official fee, so ask for the two figures separately before you pay anyone.
No. An account in a business name requires the registration documents in that name. This is the point where most traders discover the two are connected, and it is why registration sits first in this guide rather than last.
There is no single right answer, and anyone who gives you one is selling something. Compare on three things: when the money actually reaches your account, what happens when a payment goes missing and how fast a human responds, and only then the charge per transaction. A slightly cheaper provider that settles a day later, or that cannot be reached when a customer is standing in your shop, costs you far more than the difference.
Nowhere in the registration itself, and we do not do it for you. MyTreda is what you use afterwards: recording each sale with its amount and payment method, so that when the money is spread across a business account, a terminal and cash in the drawer, you can still see one honest picture of what the shop earned. For transparency, we collect our own payments through Paystack.
Last reviewed: September 2026. This is general guidance, not legal or tax advice, and requirements change. Confirm the current fees, documents and timelines with CAC and with your own bank before you act. If something here no longer matches what they tell you, let us know and we will correct it.
Once money is arriving by transfer, by card and in cash, one honest picture of the day gets harder to see. MyTreda records every sale with its payment method and reconciles your cash at closing.
Also useful: Fake Alert & Shop Fraud Guide