Paga Hits N14tri Transactions Value in 15 Years

Paga, a payments and financial services provider for Africa has processed transactions value to the tune of N14trillion in the last 15 years of its existence.

Tayo Oviosu, chief executive officer, Pagatech, said at a media interaction to mark the company’s 15 anniversary that 80 percent of the amount was done in the last five years.

“When we celebrated 10 years of our business that was five years ago, we have grown our transactions values by 7 times, across the three business arms of our operation which includes; consumer payments, platform as-a-services and super App for retailers.

“This has translated into job creation as we have created over 1,000 direct jobs in Ethiopia and in Nigeria and indirect jobs through our agent network to about 100,000 jobs, this is economic empowerment of Nigerians.

“Our desire is giving people financial freedom and making life possible for them and impacting on our community. We are really proud of our economic achievements and we are making sure that our customers get the best experience.

“We are super excited about what the future holds for our business. Our vision is a world where cash does not exist anymore. We ensure that our customers’ money is safe by complying with the highest global security standards.

“Our focus is on helping both consumers and sellers pay, get paid, and access financial services. We do this directly; and through our Platform-as-a-Service, which enables other third parties to leverage the deep infrastructure we have built for endless possibilities.

Oviosu, further explained the three business lines Paga has transformed into from a mobile money operator from inception to a financial services provider includes; Consumer payment: where anyone can open a Paga account from any type of phone, by download Paga App from Apple or android store or dial *242# from any type of phone device.

“With Paga app, you can fund the account, make payments and also have a physical Visa card or a virtual Visa card on the account. This gives you significant convenience over other bank accounts we have in the market today.

You can send money into that account from any bank account or walk into any bank branch to fund the account. You can as well go to any agent and fund or make transactions from the account,” he said.

He added that when he started the business 15 years ago, there was no infrastructure, “we had to build the required infrastructure to support the business. Two years ago, we opened our infrastructure to allow other technology companies to use it for their own business. We called this Platform as a Service. With Platform as a service we are serving 150 businesses who are using our infrastructure to execute their own businesses.

“The third arm of our business is what we called Doroki this a different brand which is super App for retail business. If you are a supermarket you use it to manage your inventory among others. This is the youngest arm of our business” he noted.