Paga joins league of MobileMoney licensees

Electronic payment solution provider, Paga has joined the league of Mobile Money licensees in the country granted operational approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The co-founder and chief executive officer, Paga Inc, Mr. Tayo Oviosu, said they received license from CBN to launch mobile money service in the country, noting that they are set to launch in early 2011 with four products directly targeted at resolving pain points that Nigerians have to contend with today when it comes to cash: money transfer, bill payments, mobile phone airtime top-up, and merchant payments.

According to him, the Paga service is underpinned by a secure and innovative payments platform built with the flexibility to operate in any environment and on the most basic mobile phone.

“Paga will be available on all mobile networks and delivered to customers in partnership with strong local banks, microfinance institutions, retailers, non-governmental organisation (NGOs), and public sector organisations to achieve its mission of bringing affordable and reliable financial services to a larger segment of the Nigerian population,” he said, stressing that Paga is expected to announce several major partnerships in the coming weeks.

Oviosu also said CBN has made clear its goal to bring high quality financial services to an even broader segment of the population and Paga commends CBN in that regard, especially for laying the strong foundation for this to occur.

“At Paga, we are driven by the simple idea that the ubiquity of the mobile phone has created an avenue to transform lives across Africa in many different ways. Paga will be at the forefront of this transformation,” Oviosu said.

He pointed out that on the back of a highly successful and on-going pilot kicked off in Lagos last September, the Paga team has made refinements and positioned for a nationwide launch.

Equally commenting in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online, co-founder, Paga, Mr. Jay Alabraba, said the pilot phase had allowed his firm to gain good feedback from customers and merchants as they fine-tune for launch.

“We are processing applications from merchants as we build our nationwide network of Paga agents. We are on track to have 5,000 agents by launch. So far, it’s clear that one major attraction to Paga is the simplicity of our interface and the opportunity for merchants to make a commission on every transaction they perform,” he said.

Alabraba emphasised that Paga is focused on its mission to expand financial access in Nigeria, noting that currently, over 80 per cent of Nigerians are unbanked.

And for another co-founder, Aisha Bashir, “Even more use very unsafe and expensive means to send money or pay for goods and services on a regular basis. With Paga, anybody with a mobile phone, regardless of their location or the network they are on can access a safe and convenient means of transferring money, paying billers or merchants, buying or sending airtime to others, etc. Paga will change the way people think about cash. It will change the way people live, positively.”

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D