Board of Directors

Mr Joel Owoade holds an Msc in Banking & Finance from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and qualified as a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in 1991.

Dr Ahmed Babatunde Popoola (Dr ‘Tunde Popoola) is a Nigerian Banker, Accountant, Economist, Entrepreneur and Business Executive. He is the Group Managing Director/CEO. He has over thirty 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. Dr, Popoola holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Nigeria, two master’s degrees in Banking & Finance and Economics from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and a PhD in Finance from WITS Business School, University of The Witwatersrand, South Africa. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Lagos Business School (LBS)’s Senior Management Programme (SMP 12) and the Wharton Business School’s Advanced Management Programme (AMP 67). He has also attended executive education programmes at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Business School, the International Management and Development (IMD), Switzerland and the Kellogg School of Management. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and seven other professional bodies. 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.

Mr Himadri Bora has over 20 years of experience in corporate finance, strategy consulting, credit bureaus, audit, and commercial data and analytics in the United Arab Emirates, India, and other countries in Asia. Mr Bora started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in India and is currently the Chief Strategy Officer of Dun & Bradstreet South Asia Middle East Limited (DBSAME). He is responsible for identifying and implementing growth opportunities for DBSAME in its markets across the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Mr Bora holds a bachelor’s degree in Statistics from Delhi University and three master’s degrees from the National University of Singapore, INSEAD, and Harvard University.

Mr Kelyn Pena has over 26 years of experience in IT software development and process improvement and 20 years in Credit Bureau Solutions architecture, development and administration, and development of products based on innovative technology solutions. Kelyn is the Group Technology Officer of Dun & Bradstreet South Asia, Middle East & Africa Group. In addition, he is the Chief Technology Officer of Dun & Bradstreet Credit Bureaus Limited. Kelyn is also a Board Member of D&B Technology and Analytics in Chennai. In his past-experience, Kelyn worked with software development companies in Dominican Republic and Latin America focusing on creation and improvement of software development processes based on the requirements of the market and the client, following industry best practices. He is a well-established professional in the fields of credit information, credit bureau solutions, SMEs. He specializes in data analysis, scoring, database management and tuning, system information security, machine learning, and AI, with in-depth knowledge in block chain technology and micro services architecture. Kelyn also has expertise within the cipher and cryptographic methods for commercial critical information systems and electronic transaction solutions. He is an alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of technology- Sloan school of Management, a Post Graduate Program from Texas McCombs in Data Science and Business Analytics from the University of Texas at Austin and holds a Master of Business Administration on Information Technology from the UCAM Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia in Spain.

Grace Ademola is the Head of Retail Credit Risk Management, responsible for the management of processes, policies and credit culture in West Africa Cluster to support growth of lending in Retail and Business Banking at Standard Chartered Bank. She also serves as a Non-Executive Director of CRC Data & Analytics Limited, a subsidiary of CRC Credit Bureau Limited. She is a seasoned banker with over 25 years banking experience across various functions in Operations, Financial Control, Credit, Marketing, Retail and Business Banking Loans - with experience and knowledge of product development, policy formulation, sales, risk management. Prior to joining Standard Chartered Bank, she was the Head of Retail Risk Management in United Bank for Africa (UBA). She is a Senior Associate Member, Risk Management Association of Nigeria, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and an Associate Member, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and an Honorary Senior Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. She holds an MBA with marketing specialization from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Dr Gregory Ovie Jobome (PhD) is the Chief Risk Officer of Access Bank Plc with over twenty-four (24) years of banking and teaching experience. He holds a First Class Honours in Economics from University of Maiduguri and subsequently he won Afribank’s prize for Best Graduating Student. He has a Master of Business Administration (Distinction) from Obafemi Awolowo University and a Doctorate degree from Loughborough University, United Kingdom. Dr Jobome specializes in Risk Management and is an Honorary Fellow of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and member of various national and international professional bodies.

Olusegun Alebiosu is the Chief Risk Officer of First Bank of Nigeria. Prior to this appointment, he was the Chief Risk Officer of Coronation Merchant Bank Limited. He served as Chief Credit Risk Officer at African Development Bank Group between 2011 and 2015, and Group Head of Credit Policy & Deputy Chief Credit Risk Officer at United Bank for Africa Plc between 2006 and 2011. He acquired an extended and rich experience in Banking and Financial Services, spanning through functions and roles in Financial Planning and Control, Credit and Marketing (Branch Banking and Regional Manager), Trade, Corporate and Commercial Banking, Agriculture Financing, Oil Gas, Transport (Including Aviation and Shipping), Project Financing and Risk Management. Olusegun is a Chartered Accountant with over 24years post-qualification experience. He obtained a BSc in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management in 1990 from University of Lagos, and Masters in International Law and Diplomacy from the same University in 1997. In addition, he holds MSc in Development Studies from The London School of Economics (2006) and also an Alumni of Harvard Kennedy School of Government

Mr Kyari Bukar as an Independent Director is the former Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group. He is the Chairman of CRC Data & Analytics Limited, a subsidiary of CRC Credit Bureau Limited. He was the MD/CEO of the Central Securities Clearing System Limited (CSCS) till December 2016. He holds a BSc degree in Physics from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, and MSc degree in Nuclear Engineering from Oregon State University, USA. He is an alumnus of Lagos Business School (LBS), Wharton Business School and Harvard Business School, USA. Mr Kyari Bukar’s professional experience transverses the financial services, IT Services, IT/financial infrastructure, and the public sector.

Olufunmilayo Adedibu (Also known as Funmi Adedibu) is The Group General Counsel/ Company Secretary and the Group Executive Compliance Officer of First City Monument Bank. Funmi is a lawyer with a wealth of experience in Legal practice and Banking. She graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Law (LLB), then proceeded to the Nigerian Law School where she obtained a BL. She holds a Master of Law degree (LLM) from the University of Lagos. She started her legal career with the Law firm of Chris Ogunbanjo and Co where she garnered a lot of experience in Copyrights and Patent Laws before joining the banking Industry. Funmi has over 29 post-graduation experience out of which 25 years has been in banking with experience spanning Corporate Banking, Commercial Banking, Risk Management, Banking Operations and currently Group Legal Services, Company Secretarial, Insurance and Compliance. She has attended a number of Leadership and Management trainings from Harvard Business School, Queen’s School of Business Canada, Lagos Business School as well as Euromoney Loan Documentation and Advanced Loan Documentation Trainings in New York She is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), International Bar Association (IBA), Life member of the Institute of Directors (IoD), a Honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (HCIB) and Toastmasters International.

Maiyegun, Helen Iyobosa is a Banking professional with over 26 years Industry experience. Her knowledge and expertise cuts across corporate, commercial, customer retail banking and financial institutions. She holds a BSc and MSc in Psychology from Universities of Jos (1991) and Lagos (2016) respectively. She has attended other local and off-shore courses including Leadership for Senior Managers, Dubai, UAE (2013), Women on Board Development, IE Business School, Madrid, Spain (2015) and Executive Decision Making, University of California, Berkeley, USA. Helen holds several leadership roles, She is a Member of the Financial Services Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), representing Keystone Bank, until very recently a Non-Executive Director in Keystone Bank Sierra Leone. In addition, she is the Chairperson of the Keystone Bank Women Economic Empowerment Committee (KWEEC). A CBN initiative with responsibility for programs & policies that will empower women both internally & externally. She is also a Faculty Member in the prestigious Keystone Bank Learning Academy. She has demonstrated her passion for investing positively in the lives of others. This passion has led her into coaching and mentoring, particularly young girls and women. She is a registered Mentor in the CIBN mentoring program. In addition, she has helped provide business direction and guidance for women in her role as a Fellow of the Women in Business, Management and Public Service (WIMBIZ), an NGO that elevates the status and influence of women by building a sustainable platform for mentoring their careers and businesses. Furthermore, Helen is a member of the board of trustees of Boom4good foundation – an NGO focused on creating awareness and educating parents about Meningitis and also a member of Ikoyi club 1938.

Mr Niyi Ajao brings to the Board of CRC, over 30 years of cumulative work experience in the financial services Industry in innovation and emerging technologies, operations, electronic payments and settlement systems management, digital financial services, and business development. He is the Founder/CEO of Digital Finance Solutions Nigeria Limited. Mr Ajao previously served as Executive Director and later as the Deputy Managing Director of Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc between May 2019 and April 2021. He led the development and management of a number of landmark innovations while at NIBSS. He holds a Bachelor’s degree and an Executive MBA from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile- Ife. He is a Honorary Senior Member, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Life member of the Institute of Directors (IoD, and several other professional bodies. He is an alumnus of the Lagos Business School, and the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania.