PRESS RELEASE

CAC INTRODUCES DESK FOR MSMEs

As part of the Registrar General's 4 - point agenda to encourage the development of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is setting up desks in its state offices across the country to facilitate the registration of these categories of businesses.

PRESS RELEASE

CAC INTRODUCES DESK FOR MSMEs

As part of the Registrar General's 4 - point agenda to encourage the development of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is setting up desks in its state offices across the country to facilitate the registration of these categories of businesses.

The Registrar General, Alhaji Bello Mahmud who stated this when he paid a courtesy visit on the Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Alhaji Mohammed Umar said that CAC also has in place procedure where individuals are free to register Business Names and Incorporated Trustees without going through lawyers, chartered accountants and chartered secretaries.  Only in respect of limited liability companies that members of the public are advised to seek the services of accredited customers of the CAC for incorporation on related matters.

Alhaji Mahmud stated that the purpose of the return visit was to further discuss possible areas of collaboration between the two organizations.

The Registrar General stressed the need for SMEDAN to sensitize small business operators to register their businesses with CAC and also enlighten them on the need to file annual returns.  This he said will make them operate legally.  The Commission is liaising with contract awarding bodies both in public and private sectors to further enforce the practice of confirming the status of companies, due diligence before contracts are awarded.

Every company is required to file annual returns within 18 months after incorporation and subsequently every year.  Annual returns inform the Commission of the status of a company as a going concern.

The Commission has also requested SMEDAN to extend its invitation to the Commission to enable it assign seasoned officers to sensitize MSMEs who participate in its business clinic.

The Director General of SMEDAN, Alhaji Mohammed Umar, said that everything relating to the development of Small and Medium Enterprises in the country needs to be fast-tracked to create the right environment for more Nigerians to be self-reliant, especially the restive youths who take to various vices as a result of poverty and unemployment.

He said that like India, Nigeria needs innovation and different incentives for MSMEs to grow and boost the economy, noting that in addition to education, skill acquisition is an important factor to any sustainable enterprise.

Alhaji Umar who expressed appreciation on the creation of desks in CAC offices to have a linkage for capacity building as well as a joint committee from both organizations to work out areas of collaboration, said that SMEDAN has deployed desk officers to CAC offices to facilitate the registration of small businesses.

Churchill Williams

Head Public Relations