Business registration
Get the business formalised, so the funding routes are open when you need them.
Registration is the door everything else goes through
No registration, no tender bid, no supplier account, no funding. It is the cheapest thing on this site and it unlocks the most.
Nearly every funder on our panel lends to registered businesses only. If you are trading informally, registration is not admin — it is the thing standing between you and every route on this site.
What we help with
- Company registration and name reservation
- The registration documents lenders and clients ask to see
- Getting the paperwork in order so a funding application is not held up by it
CIPC, CSD and CIDB — which do you actually need?
Three acronyms come up constantly and they do different jobs. Most people only need the first two.
| Registration | What it is | When you need it |
|---|---|---|
| CIPC | Companies and Intellectual Property Commission — this is company registration itself. It produces the registration certificate everyone asks for. | Always. Nothing else can happen first. |
| CSD | Central Supplier Database — the single register government buys from. It pulls your CIPC, tax and banking status together in one supplier profile. | Before you can be awarded any government tender, RFQ or purchase order. |
| CIDB | Construction Industry Development Board — a grading that says what size of construction work you are permitted to take on. | Only for construction and civils work, and only above the relevant grade threshold. |
If you are chasing government work, CSD registration is the one that blocks everything — you cannot be awarded without it, and a funder will want your CSD report as part of the file. We will ask you to download that report and send us the file; we will never ask for your CSD login. Why that matters.
Why it matters beyond funding
You cannot bid for most tenders without being registered, and corporate clients will not open a supplier account for a business that cannot produce registration documents. The same piece of paper unlocks the contract and the money to deliver it.
The honest sequence
If you are starting from nothing, the path is register, open a business bank account, run your income through it, and trade. Six to twelve months of clean business banking is what turns you from unfundable into fundable. The bank account is the part people skip, and it is the part lenders actually read.
If you hold a contract already, you do not necessarily have to wait that out — tender and purchase-order finance is assessed differently. Talk to us before you assume you are too early.
Registered, and ready for the next step?
See which funding routes your business already qualifies for.