In line with the rules guiding the operations of the Credit Bureau Association of Nigeria (CBAN), Dr. ‘Tunde Popoola, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of CRC Credit Bureau Limited has resumed as the Chairman of the association.
His tenure will run for a term of one year – January to December, 2021 – and renewable after two years.
According to a statement, the leadership of the association rotates among the Managing Directors/Chief Executive Officers of the three licensed Credit Bureaus and runs for a period of one year. Before now, he was previously the Chairman of the Association in 2015 and 2018.
Popoola is a Nigerian banker, accountant, economist, entrepreneur and business executive. He has over 30 years cumulative work experience spanning the public and the private sectors of the Nigerian economy.
He has been the Managing Director/CEO of CRC Credit Bureau Limited since its establishment in 2008. Prior to this, he was also the pioneer CEO of the Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA).
Before then, he was in the banking industry where he rose to the position of the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) and General Manager of a publicly listed bank. He is in the forefront of the development of the nascent credit reporting system in Nigeria and Africa.
He holds several awards and recognitions especially for his role in entrepreneurship, business management, finance and youth empowerment. He is also a proud recipient of a special Ministerial recognition and commendation for his innovation and promotion of youth enterprise in the FCT. He has assisted in setting up small and medium businesses and serves on the board of some of them.
Speaking on what his new tenure would focus on, he said he would be focused on creating more awareness of the Credit Bureau industry with several initiatives specifically designed to fulfill this purpose.
“We have received significant support from the World Bank Group and the CBN.
“The support includes promoting the on-boarding of all categories of financial institutions under the supervision of the CBN as credit information suppliers and users; building the capacity of credit information suppliers and users; creating awareness about the services and products of credit bureaus to the public and providing the strategic input towards the enactment of the National Credit Reporting Act. “We realised that there is still a lot to do in this regard and we would focus more on this.
Awareness creation to other stakeholders is also key and we will do a lot more in this area as well,” he added.
Prior to the current pandemic, CBAN had executed several initiatives to educate stakeholders and the public on the significance of a credit reporting system in an economy and the importance of utilising the products and services of the Credit Bureaus through conferences, newspaper features, radio and television appearances, engagement and partnership with the Business Management Organisations (BMOs) to mention a few.
According to the statement, this year, CBAN would be featuring a number of educational initiatives that would mostly be virtual – webinars that would feature the Managing Directors/CEOs of the three bureaus as well as other seasoned speakers who are experts in their fields.
