CreditPRO Finance Company Limited has officially joined the league of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-licensed financial institutions, following its formal launch in Lagos.

The firm, which began operations in 2019 under the name CreditPRO Business Support Services Limited operating with a Lagos State money lender licence, said the new milestone would enable it to scale its operations nationwide and deepen its role in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Speaking at the official launching event, the Chairman of CreditPRO, Dr. Edwin Idegwu, said the journey to the licence was years in the making.

"When we started, we were not required to have a board under the Lagos State money lender licence. But we deliberately set up a Board of Directors because we wanted to build CreditPRO above minimum standards.

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"That decision gave us stronger corporate governance, risk management, and credibility. Today, it has paid off," Idegwu said.

He noted that the CBN licence now places CreditPRO in a stronger position to earn the trust of investors, institutional partners, and clients."CreditPRO is built on three pillars -- stability, innovation, and impact.

"We want SMEs to have a dependable financial partner, we want to deliver smarter financing through technology, and we want to remain focused on enabling jobs and economic growth," the chairman added.

On his part, the Managing Director of CreditPRO, Mr. Sola Adeyiga, recalled the company's humble beginnings."We started from an underground apartment in Omole Phase 1, Lagos State with just about N3 million in equity and N17 million in borrowed capital. Today, we have disbursed over N20 billion in loans to more than 2,500 SMEs and grown our portfolio to N1.5 billion, operating with the Lagos State money lender licence," Adeyiga said.