CreditRegistry as you probably know, is in the business of credit- a phenomenon that precedes us. Consumer credit may seem like a fairly new invention – but it’s actually been around for more than 5,000 years. There is historical evidence that cultures around the world were borrowing for various reasons. In Babylon for example, The Code of Hammurabi was written, formalizing the first known laws around credit in 1,800 BC.
Credit reporting itself originated in England in the early 19th century. The earliest available account is that of a group of English tailors that came together to swap information on customers who failed to settle their debts. As credit reports can contain a lot of information, credit scores were later developed, to sum up the credit behavior reflected in credit reports with a convenient score.
But without credit reports, there would be no credit scores. And it all began with that group of English tailors with the foresight to share information on customers with each other for the greater good of their businesses. And at CreditRegistry we are thrilled to serve as the voice of credit in Nigeria for nearly two decades. In case you’re wondering what we’ve been up to over the past year, we’re bringing you all the tea. Ready? Let’s dive!
In line with our culture and corporate value of Innovation, we developed a new API- AutoCred V8 to enable credit data and other information within the bureau to be seamlessly transmitted at lightning speed. More than just speed, this API would allow subscribers to the bureau the flexibility to integrate functionalities they need, get a better interface, eliminate manual processes and spool thousands of credit reports in seconds, and access raw data in real-time.
As a means to create financial awareness in our society, we created Save Money 9ja, an e-magazine that sheds light on important Financial topics. The e-magazine aims at making available financial tips, and trends as well as getting solid, long-term insight that you can use in your financial planning efforts,. The magazine would soon be made available online and free to our customers.
GetPaidFaster is our B2B financial solution that supports easy reporting of unpaid debts to the bureau by non-financial institutions. GetPaidFaster allows us to expand into the non-financial sector and improve their economic outcomes by helping them to manage receivables.
We partnered with the Lagos State Ministry of Education to bring GetPaidFaster to schools across Lagos State and Nigeria via our School Registry Network. Also, we collaborated with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry to introduce to the state's business community the power of GetPaidFaster for customer verification, invoice collection, and debt reporting.
Have we introduced you yet? We trust you’d definitely love Morayo if you have serious plans for the future. In a bid to make our messaging more consumer-centric this year, we developed our brand avatar -Morayo. Morayo sends out emails to our consumers where she brings all the tips you need on how to secure your financial future using credit.
To Morayo, it's not just a job, it's her passion and mission to prepare consumers and help them take control of their financial future.
In light of all these, we received some Awards & Recognition
CreditRegistry was privileged to have been honored by the African corporate leadership excellence board to be the winner of its 6th edition, credit bureau leadership excellence prize 2022. We were pleased to be rewarded with this award, as it attests to our hard work in innovating to drive better security in financial transactions, expand credit opportunities for individuals and businesses, and improve our host country's economy.
It was with great joy we celebrated our delectable Managing Director, Dr. Jameelah Sharrieff Ayedun as she was awarded by the Nigeria Credit Industry Award as the Outstanding Credit Bureau Director of the year. This role plays so much importance as it impacts not just the organization and its employees but also society, and we are glad our own Dr. Jameelah Sharrieff Ayedun, was recognized for her commitment to the organization, its employees, and society.
We were not done celebrating when our chairman of the board of directors, Dr. Fatumata Soukouna Coker was awarded the Olutoyin Olakunri Woman Director of the Year Award by the Institute of Directors Nigeria. This makes us proud, as she has been recognized for making a positive impact in serving all of our stakeholders, shareholders, and employees.
In light of encouraging team bonding, togetherness, and inclusion amongst our employees, we hosted employee engagement activities and we are proud to announce that we recorded 85% employee satisfaction for the year 2022.
The EPIC Nation visited The Filmhouse Cinemas to watch the movie, Black panther 2. This was an interesting experience for our employees as they didn’t just watch the captivating movie but also experienced it in 3D.
As a way to end the year in style, CreditRegistry hosted its employees at a one-of-a-kind Christmas Party. The Party was filled with food, drinks, games, gift prizes, and music. Our employees did have a great time as they partied into the night and went home happy. Catch all the action from the party here.
We also had our Annual General Meeting
We held our Annual General Meeting on the 28th of October, 2022 and it was a delight to host the EPIC Nation, Managing Director, Chairman, and the board of Directors to an intense session of brainstorming and analyzing the business needs of the organization.
For us at CreditRegistry, our customers have always been a priority hence why we constantly try to improve our customer experience. We are glad that our respondents are satisfied and constantly speak highly about the fast and smooth resolution time. We have been able to record 98% on our dispute response rate in a survey run for our customer experience and 96% on our response rate to customers on social media.
As part of our efforts to give back to the community, we were pleased to participate in and win the ReadManna Invitational Golf Tournament on the 1st of July, 2022. More than winning the golf tournament, this charity event was organized to provide access to more tools in Nigerian schools to help children learn digital literacy.
Readmanna trains private and public-school teachers using Microsoft-certified educators that address 21st-century digital skills. So far, over 10,000 students in Nigeria have been certified.
Dr Fatumata Soukouna Coker, Chairman, CreditRegistry attests that the project is important as computers donated to schools by well-meaning Nigerians end up not being used because the teachers and students don't know how to use them. According to her, the best way is to train people first before giving them the tools to practice. She added that with the initiative, students who are learning on their own can now get certified by Microsoft and the like. The tournament, which was a four hours game, was quickly followed by a reception where prices and awards were presented to golfers with outstanding performance.
This golf tournament is a brilliant initiative that plays right into CreditRegistry’s corporate value of continuous learning.
CreditRegistry is a credit bureau continuously looking for ways to impact and change lives and is willing to support knowledge acquisition in ICT, financial literacy, or other similar causes.
As the year rounded up, CreditRegistry took to the best of its abilities to financially support the Demi Care Foundation. The Demi Care Foundation is a non-governmental organization with the aim of helping less privileged children & adults with different ailments raise funds for their treatment.
We were pleased by the organization’s desire to help others and moved by the ailments of some of the individuals to make a donation. The donation was contributed by both the staff & management of CreditRegistry, and we were glad to learn that our donation was well appreciated.
This is a cause that has become dear to us at CreditRegistry and we look forward to continue lending a helping hand.
On Tuesday 29th March 2022, a gathering of “thoughtful, Fintech innovators” shared insights on practical solutions for sustainable development using Payment Systems Platforms as regards Cybersecurity.
Due to the near-universal presence of internet-enabled devices, it comes as no surprise that the adoption of payment solutions is increasing worldwide and is driving growth in non-cash transactions. However, this gives rise to the question of how secure such payment platforms are.
Our MD/CEO, Dr. Jameelah Sharrieff-Ayedun was a panelist at the 2022 Cybersecurity summit powered by the Information Security Society of Africa- Nigeria (ISSAN) themed: “Payment Systems Platform Security” (PSPS). In this insightful summit, Dr. Jameelah Sharrieff-Ayedun alongside other panelists discussed one of the most important development challenges of our time -how to create effective and conscious PSPS innovation ecosystems worldwide.
The month of March was dedicated to celebrating women with an emphasis on breaking the bias against women. Whether it is deliberate or unconscious, bias against women makes it difficult for them to move ahead in their careers and even their personal lives. In recent times, it is refreshing to see how women are breaking barriers and proving time and again that excellence has no gender.
At CreditRegistry, we understand that financial inclusion is an important step to reaching goals and achieving groundbreaking feats. This is why we want to empower everyone (women inclusive) to take control of their financial future. As we encourage ‘gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow', there is no limit to what women can accomplish.
Under the Chairmanship of our able MD/CEO Dr. Jameelah Sharrieff-Ayedun, The Credit Bureau Association of Nigeria in collaboration with MSME had an interactive webinar for businesses on the 27th September 2022. This webinar was an interactive one aimed at providing a platform for one-on-one conversation with professionals and an advisory experience for businesses on credit-related issues.
As one of the sponsors of the ReadManna Empowerment Initiative, we were thrilled to be part of the 2022 Digital Educators Conference & Exhibition. This event was themed “Essential 21st Century Digital Skills for the Educator” and took place on the 5th of November 2022. The hybrid conference was filled with exciting activities such as the live interactive session with Prof J O Ajiboye, Registrar - TRCN, panel discussion, exhibitions, and Teachers Digital Awards. It was a phenomenal event that impacted on ensuring that participants received a FREE Microsoft Certified Educator (MCE) certification bundle - training/practice/exam. It is indeed thrilling to be part of an initiative that educates the “educator”.
AFIS is sensitive to the booming development of FinTech’s in Africa and during this live event several panels were dedicated to unravelling the challenges they face.
On 28th & 29th November 2022, #AFIS2022 brought together leaders of the financial industry, including CreditRegistry’s MD/CEO, Dr Jameelah Sharrieff-Ayedun , where she joined other professionals in a roundtable of FinTech’s, commercial banks and regulators to discuss how to reinforce integration of Africa’s payment systems and to encourage African champions in the payments landscape. Key takeaways from the round table discussion were; the reforms necessary to make the financial industry a key vehicle for AfCFTA’s growth, and how the financial industry can take on a leading role.
Financial inclusion is a growing global phenomenon. Since 2011, more than one billion adults have opened an account at a financial institution, such as a bank or a mobile money provider. Despite the progress, however, women continue to lag behind men. In low- and middle-income economies, men are 9 percentage points more likely than women to have an account, a gender gap that has stubbornly persisted.
To that end, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation established a Gender Centre of Excellence (GCE) which aims to be a strategic resource center and knowledge hub on advancing women’s financial inclusion in Nigeria.
The GCE in close collaboration with CreditRegistry, EFInA, and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) commissioned a study to conduct an in-depth gender-disaggregated data analysis of Nigeria's lending market using supply-side data (CreditRegistry) and demand-side data (EFInA Access to Financial Service survey in Nigeria data).
On the 10th ,May, 2022 there was a dissemination of the study findings titled "Gender-disaggregated Analysis of the Nigerian Lending Market: Understanding Women's Access to Credit and Loans"
Our MD/CEO Dr. Jameelah Sharrieff-Ayedun alongside other panelists were privileged to be in a formal presentation of the study outcomes as well as a discussion to help breakdown what the findings mean for the financial services sector in general.
The event provided useful insights on women’s credit profiles, behavior and also highlighted potential opportunities to increase women’s access to credit services in Nigeria.
We took this conversation a step further on June 30th, 2022 with a webinar by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in collaboration with Credit Bureau Association of Nigeria (CBAN). The webinar was themed “Enhancing Financial Inclusion in Nigeria: Changing the Narrative” and it explored practical measures on how to improve financial inclusion in Nigeria.
Every year, you promise yourself to save more money, earn more money or even begin to build your retirement fund as part of your financial resolutions for the year.
How did you do with your financial resolutions in 2022? Here are actionable tips to help you on your journey towards greater financial well-being!
If you're starting to build your credit from scratch, then you most likely have a lot of questions about credit. You can't build excellent credit overnight; good credit depends on good information. We put together answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about credit to help you on your credit journey.
If you have, you are not alone.
Like a lot of Nigerians, the rising costs of living, and little or no access to credit facilities has made more people turn to quick lending apps to meet pressing needs, and sustain themselves until the next payday.
The availability of lending options has evolved over the last few years, with the entrance of tech-enabled lenders. These developments have given rise to pressing issues as Consumer data protection, unethical practices and abnormal interest rates. Before your next quick loan, here’s what you should know about lending apps.
To the average Nigerian, when you mention credit, the first thing that comes to mind is getting a loan via a lending app. In this article, we highlight comments and opinions from anonymous Nigerians who have used credit from lending apps, and give you our two cents based on their experiences and how to make the most of using credit in Nigeria.
