This is Part II of the Howto – Register a Business Series. In Part I, we’ve explored the trials and adventures of getting my business name approved for usage. In Part II, we’ll learn what the second stage of registration have in store. However, in Part I, I did mention about trying to find some documentation on naming a business. Well, I found two guideline documents:

1. Guideline – Application for a Business Name
2. Guideline – Approval of a Business Name

So, if you are thinking about registering a business (BK, this is for you la), go get the two guidelines above and run through them a bit.

Lets move on with the show. I now have an approved business name. I still have not registered my business yet. To do that, I need to submit “Form A”, which, at the SSM, are only given to those who have received a business name approval certificate. Of course, I had to enter into the que once again. In Part I, I entered the que for like 3 times, remember.. This time, to get my hands on the “Form A”. Luckily, the que was not very long. Less than 5 minutes later, an empty “Form A” was in my hands to be filled up.

Form A is a pretty straight forward form. Filling it up was not a problem. You need not worry about making mistakes. If you do make mistakes, just cancel it off on the form itself. They are not too picky about scratches and whatnots on the form. My form had a lot of scratches and cancellations on it, especially on the Type of Business Section – I had a bout with a few business types, could not decide how to really put them down in writing on the form. Oh yes, one thing to note, on the Branch Information page, if you don’t have any branches, just leave it blank. I got mine scratched off by one of the officer at the Information Counter.

Yes, I recommend that the officers at the Information Counter are utilized. Ask them to go through your Form A, after you’ve filled it in, to verify if there are any missing information. Do this before queuing up to get a number for Form A processing – better be safe than sorry. So, after like 15 minutes of form filling and verification at the Information Counter, I realized, a photocopy of MyKad is required along with the Form A submission. Not too worry. There are many such facilities just outside the SSM front door. 5 minutes later, I got into the que once again, to get a number.

Received a number, and was told to wait once again. This time around, there were like 50 people in front of me. It was already like 11:45 am. It’s a Friday. So, I waited till 12:00pm. The numbers were moving rather slowly. Perhaps, because only a handful of counters were opened. Lunch time, probably. I decided that I should come back later after Friday prayers. That was when I asked the Information Counter Officer if I could continue my registration online. Apparently, once I’ve started the process manually, it needs to be completed manually. Oh well.. I queued up once again, to get another number. Hoping that the new number will be in range when I come back after Friday prayers.

When I arrived, later in the afternoon, I had to once again take a new number. Apparently, the number moved very fast during my absence. Many went off for Friday prayers, perhaps. This time around, there were only like 15 people in front of me. So, after like 30 minutes, I get to submit my Form A for processing. Submission was pretty quick. The officer went through the form briefly, corrected a few entries (I entered one field in the Type of Business Section in English. The form needs to be filled up in Bahasa Malaysia). This is also the point where payment is made. A typical Business Registration costs RM60.00.

Once everything has been checked and payment made, the officer told me that processing time will take about one hour. After which, I can just go over to the pick up counter and pick up my Business Registration Certificate. So, I now have an hour to spend. How should I spend this hour? Hmmmm, there’s this reflexology shop just around the corner. Thus, that’s where I spent 45 minutes of the time. At least I get to sit down and get my feet massaged at the same time. Lovely…

Oh yes, just before I went out to get some foot massage, I stumbled upon the Butterfingers. They were there to register a company – Butterworld something.. Chatted a bit with them. Friendly bunch of guys, them Butter fellas.

After my foot massage, I headed over to the pick up counter. No number was given for picking up the certificate. People were just queuing up at the counter with their receipts (not really a que, though). After a few minutes of pushing and shoving, I finally managed to hand the officer my receipts. Thus, at about 5:15pm, after going through numerous queues, I finally got my hands on my Business Registration Certificate.

So there you go. My personal experience in registering a business. I do hope that this experience of mine will be helpful for those of you who has intentions to register a business. At the very least, I hope it prepares you mentally for the whole waiting process.

Here’s a tip for those thinking of going to register on your own over the counter. Do it online. How? I’ll cover that in another post. If you can’t wait, I think there should be some information about it over at the SSM web site. Head on over there and check it out.

Finally, if this series have been too confusing for you. You might want to read this Procedure Guidelines for Registration of a Business, instead. Have fun..