Paga posts $4.6 billion deals, 12 million customers in 10 years

Mobile money company, Paga, has said that in 10 years of its operations in Nigeria, it has successfully processed over 72 million transactions worth $4.6 billion (N1.2 Trillion), with a record of 12 million customers.Besides, it was able to raise $34.7 million since its inception, attracting investors such as Tim Draper, one of the earliest Internet investors; Flourish, a venture of the Omidyar Group; and the Global Innovation Fund, among others.
 
Speaking in Lagos, at the 10-year celebration of the firm, Paga’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Tayo Oviosu, said: “Today (yesterday) marks 10 years since we started the journey    that was born out of the frustration with needing to carry cash everywhere in Nigeria and the inability to make payments efficiently.”

“While working in a Private Equity firm, the Stanford school of business graduate was bitten with the entrepreneurial bug and the strong need to start something big that will have a huge impact on the world. After making a list of about 20 ideas, the “cash” problem stood out like a sore thumb, and this is what he decided to dedicate his life to solving.

The innovative wallet allows users to link multiple bank cards and also fund the wallet directly in order to access funds from one world-class secure location.He claimed that the company has established itself firmly as a pioneer in the Fintech industry and a leader in mobile payments, which is due in part to the foresight of the founders to solve the key challenges that came with mobile payments – how to include people who weren’t banked into the digital ecosystem.
  
“The answer was to aggressively build out an agent network; Relying on neighborhood stores where people could pay cash into digital wallets and make electronic payments. Paga now has over 20,000 agents in every region in Nigeria, particularly in rural and semi-rural areas. 
 
“We are very proud to celebrate this milestone. At Paga, we say we are making life possible for our customers. We want to make payments so seamless that you can focus on what you really care about — whether that is ensuring that your wife is admitted to the hospital for treatment, or ensuring your daughter is allowed into school because payment was made on time. I’m incredibly proud of what our team has achieved so far. Our investors have been fantastic partners and we won’t be here but for their belief in our big idea,” he added.
  
In the next decade, he said Paga is expanding its offering to include in-store and online e-commerce payments, and financial services such as savings, loans, and insurance in partnership with banks and other financial institutions.The company has also announced plans to expand to other emerging countries that have similar “cash” problems that the Paga multilingual and multi-currency platform is equipped to solve.