Guide · Running a business · 3 min read
Starting a business
Registering your business name, forming a company, and the directors a company needs.
In plain English · by bruneilaws · not legal advice· Law as at 30 Sep 2026
On this page · 4 parts
The short answer
Subject to the Business Names Act, if you have a place of business in Brunei and carry on business under a name other than your full name without any addition, that business name must be registered. If you form a company instead, it must have at least two directors, and one of them, or at least two where there are more than two, must be ordinarily resident in Brunei Darussalam.
Registering a business name
Subject to the Act, a business name must be registered by:
- An individual with a place of business in Brunei who carries on business under a name other than their full name without any addition
- A firm with a place of business in Brunei that carries on business under a name other than the full names of all its individual partners and the corporate names of any corporate partners, without any addition
- A corporation with a place of business in Brunei that carries on business under a name other than its corporate name without any addition
The statement sent to the Registrar gives the business name, the general nature of the business, and the place or places where it is carried on, naming the principal place of business if there is more than one. For an individual, it also gives their full names, usual residence and any other business occupation.
If you carry on business under two or more business names, a separate statement is needed for each one.
The particulars must be sent before you start the business the registration is needed for.
The registered business name must be used in everything to do with the business, and painted or fixed in easily legible letters in a conspicuous position outside every office or place where the business is carried on.
When any of the registered particulars change, a statement of the change must be sent to the Registrar within 14 days.
Forming a company
Any seven or more people or, where the company will be a private company, any two or more people, associated for a lawful purpose, can form a company by signing their names to a memorandum of association and meeting the Act's other requirements for registration.
The liability of a company's members can be limited to any amount unpaid on their shares, limited to the amount each undertakes to contribute if the company is wound up, or unlimited.
The memorandum and the articles, if any, are delivered to the Registrar, who keeps and registers them.
The memorandum of a company incorporated after 1 January 1957 must state the company's name. For a company limited by shares or by guarantee, "Berhad" or "Bhd" is the last word of the name, and a private limited company also has "Sendirian" or "Sdn" in its name immediately before it.
Directors
Every company registered after 1 January 1957 must have at least two directors.
One of the two directors or, where there are more than two, at least two of them must be ordinarily resident in Brunei Darussalam.
A director must be an individual who is at least 18 years old and otherwise of full legal capacity.
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