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E-Financial

Paga Launches Suite of Payment Solutions for Business

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Tayo Oviosu, CEO, Paga
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Paga has announced the launch of its new business focused service line – Paga for Business.

Suitable for large to small businesses, Paga For Business is a one-stop-shop solution for any business looking for a smart way to collect payments from its customers in person, online, or remotely from anywhere in the world. The solution also allows businesses to disburse cash to any phone number or bank account and to disburse airtime to any phone number in real-time.

In operation since 2009, Paga is an indigenous company focused on delivering efficient payment solutions to all Nigerians – individuals or businesses.

The introduction of solutions aimed solely at businesses is the next step in Paga’s evolution towards solving the payment challenges of Nigeria.

Jay Alabraba, fo-Founder & head of Agent Network and Business Sales at Paga, said at the launch: “With over 5 years experience within the mobile payments market and a customer base rapidly approaching the 2 million mark, we believe that as a payments platform, Paga has already demonstrated its ability to accurately assess the payment challenges facing not just consumers but businesses nationwide; and provide innovative solutions to address them. Best of all our offering is easy to use and has zero setup costs.”

The initial offerings within Paga for Business are a robust online payment gateway, “Paga e-Pay”, and a web-based, real-time payment solution “Paga Bulk Pay”.

Paga e-Pay allows any business selling online to accept payments from customers with a Paga account, MasterCard, Visa, or Verve. The gateway is free to setup and businesses can view their transactions in real time online.

Paga’s disbursement solution, Paga Bulk Pay, allows businesses, irrespective of size to send cash to a large number of recipients anywhere in the country either to their bank account directly or to the recipient’s phone number.

Those who receive money via their phone number can pick up at Paga agents nationwide or select ATMs without a card. The solution also allows businesses to send airtime to a large number of recipients on all mobile networks.

Speaking on the launch of Paga for Business, Tayo Oviosu, founder and  Paga CEO, said: “As is our approach at Paga, we have created a suite of offerings by listening to our customers. To date over 1,800 businesses have already signed up for our business offerings. From global brands such as Emirates Airlines who use Paga’s payment gateway to accept payments from customers purchasing a plane ticket with a debit card or Paga account, to local businesses such as FoodPro who use Paga to disburse payments to staff at their cashew processing facility in Ilorin. We will continue to build on our current offering and expect to announce additional products to our suite soon.”

With the rapid growth of SME’s and online commerce within the economy, Paga believes using technology to create payment solutions that are low cost, convenient for entrepreneurs and most importantly accessible for their customers is the key to boosting economic development within our emerging economy.

With its industry experience and through its  in-house innovation labs “Paga labs” Paga is constantly developing and delivering on new and beneficial services to both individual consumers and businesses alike.

The introduction of Paga for Business can only be an added bonus to the fastest growing mobile payments company in the country.


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Nigeria CommunicationsWeek believes that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. So since 2007, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and how they affect lives.

E-Financial

World Bank Approves Extra $65m for Nigeria’s SPESSE

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World Bank has approved an additional $65 million loan for Nigeria to support the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental, and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) project, increasing the total financing for the initiative to $145 million.

World Bank Approves Extra $65m for Nigeria’s SPESSE

The approval was granted on June 24, 2025, according to details posted on the World Bank’s website, which also indicates that the project’s status has moved to “active” following the approval.

The SPESSE project, initially launched with an $80 million loan approved in February 2020, aims to strengthen institutional capacity for managing procurement, environmental, and social standards in both the public and private sectors across Nigeria.

The World Bank described the project’s development objective as the establishment of sustainable capacity in these areas.

This latest approval is part of a broader wave of financing expected from the World Bank to Nigeria in 2025.

The bank is scheduled to approve loans totalling $1.61 billion over the coming months, supporting various development initiatives.

Among these is a $300 million loan for the ‘Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project,’ expected to be finalised by the end of July.

This project aims to improve access to basic services and economic opportunities for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in selected local government areas in northern Nigeria.

In September, the World Bank plans to approve four additional loans: a $10.5 million facility to support technical assistance for the Central Bank of Nigeria, a $300 million Health Security Program targeting Western and Central Africa (Nigeria – Phase IV), a $500 million project for building resilient digital infrastructure (BRIDGE), and a $500 million loan under the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value-Chains for Growth project aimed at promoting sustainable growth and job creation within key agricultural sectors.

Earlier in March 2025, the bank approved three financing requests amounting to $1.13 billion.

These funds are directed towards projects focused on enhancing quality education, boosting household and community resilience, and improving nutrition.

Among the approved loans were $80 million for the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria 2.0 project, $552 million for the HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All programme, and $500 million for the Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus Programme.

In February, the Nigerian government announced expectations of new World Bank loans totalling $2.2 billion for six different projects in 2025. This follows a $1.5 billion loan disbursed in 2024 aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s economic stability and resource mobilisation efforts.


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E-Financial

Ecobank Taps Google Cloud to Deepen Financial Inclusion

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Ecobank, a pan-African financial services group, has partnered with Google Cloud in a deal to improve financial services with advanced analytics, AI and driving digital empowerment across Africa.

This collaboration will focus on leveraging Google Cloud’s advanced technologies and AI to enhance Ecobank’s digital offerings to accelerate the digital transformation of the Bank.

The partnership agreement is designed to empower individuals, support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region, and contribute to the overall economic development of Africa.

“Our collaboration with Google Cloud is a leap forward in Ecobank’s digital transformation journey. We look forward to leveraging Google Cloud’s world-class technology to unlock new possibilities for individuals and businesses to grow and scale across Africa,” said Jeremy Awori, group chief executive officer of Ecobank.

“This collaboration signifies our shared intent to explore building a more connected and financially inclusive future for the continent.”

Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud, stated that Google Cloud and Ecobank have a shared vision for using technology to help deliver financial empowerment to more people and businesses in Africa.

“We look forward to exploring the ways our cutting-edge AI, powerful data analytics, and scalable infrastructure can support Ecobank’s efforts to fuel the continent’s economic development and digital future.”

The collaboration aims to simplify and streamline money transfers, both domestically and across borders. By leveraging Google Cloud’s capabilities, including its powerful data analytics platform, BigQuery, for AI-driven insights, Ecobank will aim to develop solutions that improve access to finance for SMEs, simplify payment acceptance, and provide valuable data-driven insights to help businesses scale across more than 33 countries in Africa.


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E-Financial

Stanbic IBTC Holdings Rights Issue Oversubscribed by 21.9%

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Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has announced the successful close of the N148.7 billion Rights Issue subscription exercise following the completion of the verification exercise by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and final clearance by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Stanbic IBTC Holdings said the Rights Issue was oversubscribed by 21.9 percent, adding that the holding company has injected N140 billion into Stanbic IBTC Bank.

Kunle Adedeji, acting Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc while commenting on the just concluded rights issue programme said that “The turnout and participation of existing shareholders taking up their rights was impressive such that the rights issue was oversubscribed by 21.9percent to the tune of N181.4 billion. Our shareholders’ interest shows the confidence they continue to have in the brand,” he said.

“We appreciate the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria, The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Lead Issuing house, Joint Issuing houses and other stakeholders in the successful completion of the recapitalisation exercise.

“We are optimistic about future opportunities, as the injection of new capital will position us to take advantage of them to enable us to deliver to our shareholders. To all shareholders, we are grateful for your unwavering belief and support for the Stanbic IBTC Brand and your willingness to continue this journey with us,” Adedeji said.

Having received an injection of N140 billion from the parent company, the Chief Executive of the Banking subsidiary, Wole Adeniyi, remarked that “the injection of the new capital into the banking subsidiary is a positive development. This will enable the Bank to seize additional opportunities within the industry and enhance our Single Obligor Limit (SOL).

“We deeply appreciate the dedication and hard work of our regulators, issuing houses, and all other stakeholders. We extend our sincere gratitude for your continued support.”


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