1. Business registration

The very first step is to register your business through the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission. You can do this yourself without using a lawyer or accountant.

2. Memorandum of incorporation

Your memorandum of incorporation (MOl) needs to clarify the rights, duties and responsibilities of all the company shareholders and directors. Think of it as your constitution.

3. Shareholders' agreement

A shareholders' agreement can help navigate unforeseen but inevitable events, such as chronic illness or death. Alternatively, if you want to leave the company for whatever reason, this agreement can help to keep the process professional and amicable.

4. Corporate governance

Essentially, corporate governance is the company's code of conduct: the rules, practices and processes used to help direct and manage the business. It also involves balancing the interests of your company's stakeholders, which include shareholders, management, suppliers and customers.

5. Employee contracts

Whether you're hiring full-time employees or contracting freelancers, you need to have contracts in place. It’s best to have them drawn up professionally to avoid oversights, which could have unnecessary and even unpleasant consequences down the line.

6. Data management

No matter the type of business, privacy is about the way you deal with the sensitive information of clients, suppliers and employees. You need to have protocols to guide what information you collect from whom and why, as well as what you're going to do with it.

7. Terms and conditions

Customers need to know what they're paying for and what to do if they're unhappy. A good business model is to include T&Cs with quotes to specify what's included or excluded and what to do to accept it.

Once accepted, further T&Cs should guide the relationship between you and the customer. That entails understanding the Consumer Protection Act and knowing how to treat customers fairly.

8. Your BEE status

BEE compliance is critical if you want to enter into a corporate or government supply chain. If your business is still small and your turnover is below R10 million, you can download the affidavits published by the DTI: 51% black-owned SMEs will automatically be put on level 2; and if you're fully black-owned, you'll be on level 1. White-owned businesses will be placed on level 4.

9. Compliance

The last step is to make sure that your business taxes are up to date. If you have employees, you have to register with the compensation commissioner and pay UIF, as well as PAYE to SARS. In addition, if you exceed a certain threshold, you will also have to pay the skills development levy. This compliance is not only necessary, it is critical.

This article originally appeared in Nine Yards magazine, issue 1 2020.