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Paga to Further Accelerate Growth with $10M Series B2 Investment

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Paga, the leading mobile money company in Nigeria has announced that it has closed a $10 million growth financing led by the Global Innovation Fund.

Also participating in the round were existing investors Goodwell (managed by Alitheia Capital), Adlevo Capital, Omidyar Network and Unreasonable Capital. This new financing brings the total Paga has raised since inception in 2009 to $35 million.

The company commenced commercial operations in August 2012 and recently revealed that since then it has served 9 million customers and created over 10,000 jobs through its 17,000 agents who hire staff to run their stores.

“GIF is proud to lead Paga’s Series B2 round,” said Alix Peterson Zwane, GIF’s CEO. “Paga’s mission of helping people ‘make life possible” aligns with our core mission of supporting entrepreneurs and innovators that seek to improve the lives of those living on less than $5 per day. I am pleased that GIF will help enable Paga’s next phase.”

Nigeria is one of the fastest growing emerging markets in the world, and the biggest economy in Africa with $405 billion GDP.

Nigeria currently has a population of 186 million but is expected to become the 3rd largest country in the world (behind India and China) by 2050 with 411 million people. In Nigeria today, over 100 million adults find it difficult to transfer or leverage money for basic human needs.

This problem is one that exists even for those that are banked, and is something Paga’s team is passionate about solving.

The growth financing announced today will enable Paga further scale its business in Nigeria to drive the growth of Paga’s mobile wallet and agent network, and explore expansion opportunities in other markets where similar problems exist.

“Our belief in Paga as an effective platform to drive financial inclusion is unwavering,” says ‘Tokunboh Ishmael, Managing Partner at Alitheia Capital, “Paga has shown solid progress, and alongside other investments in our portfolio has played a huge role in our ability to demonstrate that enabling access to essential services for the broad population has both significant financial and developmental impact.”

Paga’s massive transformative purpose is “To make it simple for one billion people to access and use money.” With a nationwide network of 17,000 agents and more than 9 million users accessing funds in Nigeria, Paga is making strides by enabling efficient digital payments and building successful societies.

This has translated to over 57 million transactions processed worth approximately $3.6 billion, a business that is profitable and growing at 110% compounded annual growth rate (2016-2018).

“At Paga, we are building an ecosystem that enables people to digitally send and receive money, and creating simple financial access for everyone,” explains Tayo Oviosu, “We do not seek to be a bank, but rather to partner with banks and financial institutions in the markets we operate.

“We are proud to welcome the Global Innovation Fund as a partner on our journey. We were attracted to them because of their global focus, network to help us achieve our ambition and a clear alignment of values.

“It is also fantastic that our existing investors remain committed to our strategy and are demonstrating that by their additional investments.”

Paga’s mission is strengthened by the recent release of Paga’s new money transfer app that will drive use of the Paga wallet for person-to-person transfers and in-store payments.

In a country where digital financial services still leave much to be desired, Paga is staking a claim at being the Venmo of Nigeria. With cash still being king in emerging markets, and the general unreliability of POS services coupled with the sparsely located Banks and ATM’s, the company has created a viable solution for ease of payments: a simple app that allows you to send money to or request money from anyone only using their phone number or email address and a digital wallet to which you can link any debit card or bank account. In this sense, Paga is acting as a facilitator to provide a swift and reliable payment gateway for your already existing financial accounts.

This reinforces the idea that Paga is seeking to be the reliable access point to all relevant financial services for all people.

The core ethos of the Paga brand is “Making Life Possible”, so the decision to provide free money transfers was driven by the underlying desire to solve basic human needs and to ease the pain of not only person to person payments but payments for small to medium businesses, especially those trading through social media channels.

According to the 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Index, Nigeria ranks 12th in Africa for entrepreneurship, even with its uniquely challenging environment.

The high unemployment rate forces its citizens to be creative in order to thrive, and cultural barriers which sometimes prevent access to education and traditional workspaces means that a  higher percentage of these entrepreneurs are female.

The company, which prides itself in aiding economic empowerment for less advantaged citizens, particularly in empowering women, notes that women are some of the highest performing agents.

Paga also prides itself on providing opportunities for small businesses to grow and create even more employment opportunities for others.

Nigeria is not the final frontier – Paga has already noted an important trend: the problem they are solving also exists in other markets. The platform is scalable and multi-currency, and the company has already begun considering opportunities in large countries such as Ethiopia, Mexico and the Philippines.

The growing tech ecosystem in Africa is garnering international notice, as evidenced by Mark Zuckerberg’s visit to Lagos and the opening of the Facebook tech hub; not too far from Paga’s office in an area that has been dubbed “Yabacon Valley”, and the exportation of African tech can be a big driver for the economy.


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E-Financial

Lagos State Appoints MoneyMaster as Payment Partner for “Ounje Eko” Programme

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“Ounje Eko”, the food price discount initiative of the Lagos State Government, has appointed leading payment service bank, MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank Limited (MMPSB), as its collaborator in the bid to ensure ease of payments at the market.

MoneyMaster is one of the Central Bank of Nigeria-licensed Payment Service Banks (PSBs) to promote financial inclusion across Nigeria.

Under the partnership, MMPSB will apply its cutting-edge payment solution to engender easy payment and reconciliation in order to make   the experiences of Lagosians who will be getting their food supplies from the markets pleasurable. Its payment solution is also all-encompassing and ensures real time value to payment destinations.

The mobile bank was appointed as the collection and payment partner for “Ounje Eko” Food Markets programme which is a government initiative serving the five divisions of Lagos State. Consequent on this, MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank will collect payments in 57 LCDAs in the state.

The partnership gives credence to the quality of payment solutions that MoneyMaster is reputed for in its services to its growing business clientele in private and public sectors.

 


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E-Financial

CBN, EFCC Probe Banks, Firms over Alleged Forex Racketeering

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Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is investigating irregular foreign exchange transactions and forward contracts valued at approximately $2.4 billion.

CBN, EFCC Probe Banks, Firms over Alleged Forex Racketeering

The  inquiry follows an extensive audit by Deloitte, which scrutinized $7 billion in dollar debts accumulated under the bank’s previous leadership.

In the aftermath of the 294th Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, Yemi Cardoso, governor of CBN,  disclosed to journalists that the investigation, supported by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, among other security bodies, aims to clarify the legitimacy of these FX allocations identified as problematic by the audit.

“It was determined that a number of these transactions did not qualify…they were outright illegal. The law enforcement agencies are now looking into those transactions that as far as we are concerned, are not valid to be paid,” Cardoso detailed, emphasizing the unlawful nature of these forex deals.

The crux of the investigation lies in the audit findings that a significant portion of the scrutinized transactions lacked proper documentation and, in many instances, were deemed outright illegal.

However, the unfolding investigation has raised concerns within the organized private sector, with some entities contemplating legal action against commercial banks for unresolved forex bids.

Despite these tensions, Governor Cardoso reassures that the foreign exchange market remains open and transparent, inviting stakeholders to address their forex needs through the official channels.

Furthermore, Cardoso clarified the distribution of fertilizers to farmers as a one-off measure and not indicative of a shift back to direct interventions by the CBN, underscoring a commitment to strategic, regulatory governance rather than direct market involvement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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CBN Urges Banks to Expedite Action on Recapitalisation

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Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed deposit money banks in the country to expedite action to increase their capital base from the current ₦25bn.

CBN Urges Banks to Expedite Action on Recapitalisation

Olayemi Cardoso, governor of CBN

Olayemi Cardoso, governor of CBN, stated this during the apex bank’s 294th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Tuesday in Abuja, when the MPC hiked the interest rate by 22.75% to 24.75%.

The apex bank chief said the MPC examined developments in the banking sector and expressed satisfaction that the industry remained stable. The committee, however, said to guard against risk, commercial banks in the country should accelerate their recapitalisation efforts.

Cardoso said, “The MPC also reviewed developments in the banking system and noted that the industry remains safe, sound, and stable. The committee thus called on the bank to sustain its surveillance and ensure compliance of banks with existing regulatory and macro-potential guidelines.

“The MPC also enjoined the banks to expedite actions on the recapitalisation of banks to strengthen the system against potential risks in an increasingly globalised world.”

 

 

 

 


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