The Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) has begun the process of striking off business names, which have lapsed from the Business Names Register for defaulting in their renewal.
The exercise, according to the ORC, is in line with Section 5A (2) of the Registration of Business Names Act, 1962 (Act 151) on Annual Renewals.
This is contained in a statement issued by the Office, signed by Mrs. Jemima Mamaa Oware, the Registrar, and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Accra.
It said “the failure to renew a business name (sole proprietorship) or a subsidiary business name for a period of three months after the year has ended leaves the name open to be used by anyone interested in the name”.
The statement, therefore, entreated all business name owners to renew their business names before the end of April, 2023.
That would help avoid such business names falling into the public domain and for anyone of interest to use it after it had been struck off from the Business Name Register, the ORC noted.
The statement said: “Business name owners can be in good standing by renewing their business names through the short code *222# and follow the prompt to make payment on the Ghana.Gov payment platform with their Mobile Money (Momo) wallet or walk into our Offices across the country and make payment at our in-house Fidelity Bank.”
The ORC advised the public to avoid the use of intermediaries and agents when transacting business with the Office.
“We entreat our clients to ignore all calls or text messages from fraudsters purporting to be ‘lawyers’ or staff of the Office and demanding MoMo transfers in order to put their businesses in good standing.
“Kindly note that the Office does not have nor operate a mobile money account or have designated any lawyer for that purpose,” the statement advised.
Ashantibiz
