In Nigeria, up to 70 percent of people who call themselves ‘entrepreneurs’ do not own a registered business, the numbers are even scarier for online businesses.
How can anyone say they own a business when it doesn’t really and legally exist?
For some of these people, it’s just plain ignorance; they don’t know or understand the importance of getting a business registered. The others, who aren’t totally ignorant, just choose to avoid the upfront cost of registration when they start their business, you really should not be like that.

If you have been running an online business you should know it is really different from being a freelancer or dabbling in affiliate marketing. An online business has more depth and you will most likely need more people ton to help you in the future. You really ought to get your online business registered soon. However, if you plan to start a business soon, the reasons in this article will prevent you from missing out on the benefits of a legally registered business.

I can hear some people saying things like:
"Oh but it is an online business, I do not need to register it".

You are more susceptible to copyright theft and even brand theft when your business is out there without any legal backing or protection.


What Is A Registered Business?
The best way to describe a registered business is to tell you a short story.
Tobi is an entrepreneur who makes very beautiful clothes for men and women with the best quality cloths. This has been his line of work for seven years now and thousands of people love his clothes.

In fact, his clothes have become so popular that people commonly refer to it as ‘Tobi clothes’ (a brand). People actually go to the market and ask for ‘Tobi clothes’ or shop online. Most of his customers are so loyal that they order or come to buy from a long distance (local or foreign) to get his clothes.

Just last year, one smart entrepreneur (let’s call him Kelvin) got a bright idea and decided to register a company and named it “Tobi Clothes Company”.
It cost him time, effort and money but Kelvin went through the hassle to register his new company. Guess what? His new company makes clothes too. These clothes are also of high quality but they’re not as good as the popular Tobi Clothes.

But the interesting thing is, Kelvin’s company’s clothes labelled ‘Tobi Clothes’.
As you may have guessed, Tobi finds out that Kelvin’s company is selling its clothes with a ‘Tobi Clothes’ label. What can he do?

If he does nothing, these new clothes that carry his name will confuse his customers and he could lose sales. So he decides to sue Kelvin’s company “Tobi Clothes Company”.
Who do you think will triumph when this matter goes to court?

The facts of this case are quite simple:
One person (Kelvin) owns and runs a business that is legally registered and recognized by law. The other person (Tobi), although running a very successful but unregistered business, has become a victim of his own mistake. He owns and has been operating a business that doesn’t legally exist and in the war of law, he will have lost the brand name "Tobi Clothes" and will be revoked from using it.

This is a sad example of the kind of unfortunate things that could happen when a business is not properly set up and registered.

It is often tempting to postpone or think that business registration can wait or is not really important.
The truth is, you may be building something that could become very big and popular in the future. However, if you don’t do something as basic as registering your business, all your hard work could easily be wasted, or worse, taken over by somebody else.

In summary, this story teaches us (with a hard lesson) exactly what a registered business is. It is one that legally exists and is recognized by law. It is one that enjoys certain rights, benefits and privileges that an unregistered business cannot enjoy.

In a later section of this article, we shall look at all the other reasons why you just have to register your company.


What are the options? What are the types of business registration available?
Before we look at the reasons why you should register your business, it’s important that you know the types of business entities that exist and how they’re different from one another.
This will help you to decide on the right type of business registration that best suits your circumstances.

Soul Proprietorship
Partnerships
Private Limited Liability Company
Public Limited Liability Company.

We will be discussing more about these types of registration, where and how to register tomorrow.
What experiences have you had when you or someone close to you did not register their business?

You can run an online business and still get extra cash from Freelancing and Affiliate Marketing.
In fact, we recommend you sign up to Fiverrcashng and learn more about Affiliate Marketing from me

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Your are On Point... I can't wait Babaonpoint
Thanks for Your input...

Front page so this is You !!!

eastTKBorn:
Your are On Point... I can't wait Babaonpoint
Thanks for Your input

you are welcome bro.

Are you an entrepreneur?
need a unique logo for your business?

Get your affordable logos to speak for your business

..

A blogger should register his/her business and start paying tax abi

Very good and educative thread.
Thumbs up OP.

Exactly what i advised a friend earlier this morning. She was citing "too expensive, no money" I just left her ignorantly. No be by force.

am going straight to register my business tomorrow... thanks alot

Any business online should be registered to be on a safe side.




I make 3D phone cases,please check my profile,thanks.

hmm

Just did mine. There is promo going on. 5000
Naira, if u can go thru the stress

Can i Also register my Skull mining, yahoo and money Ritual business?


Na question i ask oo!!

OLAFIMIX:
Just did mine. There is promo going on. 5000
Naira, if u can go thru the stress

I Did mine too on December... But I don't think the promo is still on

99.9% of these online businesses wey get K-legs na im make dem go dey register?

eastTKBorn:
I Did mine too on December... But I don't think the promo is still on

really, a lawyer friend of mine did it for me.

eastTKBorn:
I Did mine too on December... But I don't think the promo is still on

It has been extended to March 31st

why is kelvin looking for trouble why will name his company tobi why cant him name his company Kelvin, and also reg means tax which is a TRAP.

lol it is well hussle away

Lovechairman:
It has been extended to March 31st

wow I Neva knew... Thanks for the info

slayprint:
Any business online should be registered to be on a safe side.




I make 3D phone cases,please check my profile,thanks.

Which 3d printer do you use

OLAFIMIX:
really, a lawyer friend of mine did it for me.

loveChairman said it has been extended, tanks for Your input too

Onyeedum:
A blogger should register his/her business and start paying tax abi

well said

You don mean it!?

In that case, lemme quickly go and register nairaland as a brand name sharp sharp because. I'm so sure Seun has never bothered to register it.

But wait o OP, you no even talk where dem dey register the registration sef.

Weda na to begin go INEC office right now go register am, me i no sabi.

Lovechairman:
It has been extended to March 31st

how can I go about it really need to register mine

Ok

The good thing is that CAC presently has a Promo. You can reserve and register your Business name with just 5500Naira.

klens:
how can I go about it really need to register mine

Just visit Corporate Affairs Commission's website and sign up I. e ,you'll create an account with them and after you might have done that, then you proceed with Name reservation after the name has been approved then you'll do the registration... It shouldn't take more than seven working days for your certificate to be ready if the registration is properly done

OLAFIMIX:
Just did mine. There is promo going on. 5000
Naira, if u can go thru the stress

Saw this yesterday but battling to understand what the #5,000 is for. Was it for the Ltd or Enterprise? I registered a name with the limited at the end. Please explain @Olafimix
Thanks

OLAFIMIX:
Just did mine. There is promo going on. 5000
Naira, if u can go thru the stress

Saw this yesterday but battling to understand what the #5,000 is for. Was it for the Ltd or Enterprise? I registered a name with the limited at the end. Please explain Olafimix
Thanks

following

..

Did you mention the yearly fee and tax filing palava? Without a lawyer, these dudes will be quoting bills like NEPA people.

Abegi starting an online biz is already hard enough. Facebook didn't write a business plan - not to talk of registering the biz until he had millions of users.

For those who don't know - this 5k promo is another APC scam. They want to use this as proof that new businesses have been created. They know fully well that less than 10 in 100 such registrants will actually start the biz.

Those who actually start - start.

The rest procrastinate with impressive business plans, registration, market research and other textbook things.
I'm sure some airhead would want to rope me into an argument about the importance of business plan - please don't.

I've accepted already - they are important.