Starting a business

• Register the company

  A registration number, and a company in good standing.

  CIPConce

A general description, not legal advice — requirements and thresholds change. Confirm the current position with the authority named.

• Deciding and planning

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• Deciding and planning

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• Deciding and planning

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• Registering the company

  Shareholders and directors

  A director runs the company; a shareholder owns it. In small companies they are usually the same people, which is exactly why the distinction goes unexamined…

  Content Agency26 August 2026

• Registering the company

  Your first week as a registered company

  Registration is the beginning of the obligations, not the end of the task. Most of what follows takes an afternoon each, and none of it happens automatically.

  Content Agency26 August 2026

• Registering the company

  Choosing a company name

  You can register without one at all. And registering a name gives you an entity, not a monopoly on the words — which surprises people regularly.

  Content Agency26 August 2026

• Licences and permits

  Signage, zoning and working from home

  Two permissions that catch small businesses out constantly, because they seem too small to need asking about. Almost every expensive version of this problem is…

  Content Agency25 August 2026

• Licences and permits

  Selling food: what you need

  The most regulated thing a small business commonly sells, whether that is a restaurant, a home bakery or a market stall. The standard is practical: right…

  Content Agency25 August 2026

• Licences and permits

  Applying for a municipal business licence

  Not difficult, but slow and sequential — several inspections that must happen in an order, each with its own queue. Plan the opening date around the licence,…

  Content Agency25 August 2026

• Premises and leases

  Choosing premises

  Made once and lived with for years. Businesses routinely choose on rent per square metre, which is the least important factor in whether the premises work.

  Content Agency26 August 2026

• Premises and leases

  Running a business from home

  The cheapest possible premises, and it removes the largest fixed cost a young business would carry. Three things to check before you rely on it.

  Content Agency26 August 2026

• Premises and leases

  Signing a commercial lease

  Not a residential one, and most of the protections a tenant might expect do not apply. Usually the largest fixed commitment a small business makes.

  Content Agency26 August 2026