How does the New Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) Bill affect Entrepreneurs?

Hello Everyone,

I have been AWOL and very intermittent with the way I push articles here. There has definitely been a stop-start attempt at maintaining this blog this 2018 which was supposed to be the year where we blow o. But things have been changing really fast and to be really honest, I think my shadow has left me behind.

But....

 The shirt says it all. LOL

So today we would be talking about this New CAMA Bill

WHAT BROUGHT ABOUT THE REFORM?

As I have earlier iterated, we all know about the effort of this current administration has been making concerted efforts to make it easier to do business in Nigeria.

If you don't know, I suggest you read my previous articles on the effort that has been put in by the government to ease business operations in Nigeria.

1. How to Use the PEBEC Reporting App (Part 1)
2. How to Use the PEBEC Reporting App (Part 2)
3. Senate Roundtable on Youth Unemployment and Development in Nigeria
4. Assessment on Ease of Doing Business Documentary
5. Is it Easier to Do Business in Nigeria?

Omo I don try o. On a high-key


So this bill focused on addressed the different issues faced by Entrepreneurs that look to register businesses/companies in Nigeria. The changes made through the introduction of this new bill is highlighted below;


1. Single Member Companies

I found this weird because, business name allows for single business owners to register companies as sole proprietorship. Isn't that a tautology?

Lawyers in the House!!!!!!

I heard that business names can't be used to work with the government is that true and it has to be a company with a certain amount of share capital and turnover. Is this true?

Although I think because someone wants to set up a company to ensure that the company is a separate legal entity. It might actually help a lot of people that were in my shoes when I was just setting up HubbonNG.com.

I actually used my brother and a really close friend to be the second director and company secretary respectively. Even if they were not actively involved in the running of the company. So this should help to remove all those bottlenecks faced by young Entrepreneurs that want to begin to execute their businesses without the need to have a board of Directors.

2. E-registration of businesses

In Nigeria, until a couple of months ago when the Corporate Affairs Commission decided to get their act in order, they were the major reason why many young and old people alike, kept their business ideas in their diaries hoping for when things would change.

At least it has now. I remember starting the process of my business registration with our company attorney and it was taking over 2 months to get any headway. We were lucky that as the process started, everything went online and within 2 weeks we were able to get everything done promptly.

It's good news, at least you go through seamless process of business e-registration before you begin to worry about multiple taxation and the many other challenges that the government, and the country in general, has placed to hinder the growth of startups and SME's in the country.

3. Removal of stifling business regulations

I don't know who previously made business registration so incredibly difficult to get done. Things like articles and memorandum of association, company secretary, share capital etc etc. At least this time around, they removed the need for company secretary, general meetings and they also reduced the minimum share capital thus reducing the barrier to entry for starting businesses/companies in Nigeria. At least the struggle of building the economy does not start at the business registration level anymore.

4. Introduction of Limited Liability Partnerships

If I understand this properly, international funders and and local incubators and accelerators can under this new arrangement build partnerships with deeper funds to grow more startups out of Nigeria.

Am I right?

That is the long-story-cut-short gist of the new CAMA bill. If you want to read the bill in-depth. You can begin your research from this executive summary of the bill done by ProshareNG.


1. Executive Summary of the CAMA Bill 2018

If you want to read a short summary that highlights the benefits of the CAMA Bill  take a look at the excerpt from TechNextNG from which I created this post below


2. Benefits of the New CAMA Bill


Hope you get the opportunity to read more and learn about what the government's effort to make doing business in Nigeria easier. You could always visit  Today's Policy Tuesdays Articles that we have curated that highlight the government's efforts at promoting the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below. People with questions and answers please lets discuss!

So Yes before I end this.

If you run a business and you want to get exposure to potential customers online you should join 142 other business owners that are growing their businesses with HubbonNG.

To get started with the process of  signing up on the HubbonNG Business Listing Page click here to SIGN UP ON HubbonNG.


I also want to use this opportunity to do our first call for delivery providers. If you know good delivery companies in Abuja, Lagos, Portharcourt, Kaduna, Ibadan,Warri and other cities across West Africa tell them to sign up on the HubbonNG Delivery Partner Network. We are planning to go international!


Thanks for sticking with us!

Best regards,
Ejieji Muna
(CEO, HubbonNG)