Grateful for 9 years of Paga…
I feel very blessed to mark the 9th anniversary of Paga. Starting and running a business in Nigeria is VERY hard (much more difficult than doing so in the West or more developed markets). I have too many stories to tell over one blog post so I am going to start writing down my stories and learnings from this journey. First in my journal, and one day, hopefully to publish them.
Today though, I am grateful that Paga is growing very well and having real impact in Nigeria. Our achievements are all down to our wonderful team, agents, investors, and partners. We are on a mission to make it easy for people to send money to each other and to deliver financial services to the over 70m unbanked/underbanked Nigerians.
What really excites me, though, are the lives we are making possible. An example is TJ who has a HND in accounting and became a Paga agent in May 2013. Prior to Paga, TJ used to sell Yoruba films. Today, he is one of Paga’s top 5 agents, has 3 Paga outlets in Ogun State, and hires 12 people! Yesterday, he sent me a whatsapp message to thank me for the all expenses paid trip to Dubai that we gave our top 5 agents. With his permission I’m sharing below:
TJ says he is excited about “making life possible for people in his community.” Stories like TJ’s are why we do what we do. We are truly making life possible for millions by making payments easy and bringing financial services to the mass market.
I’m very proud that Paga has touched 8.1m people with our service since launching to the public in 2012. It still amazes me that it took over 3 years to get to a proper launch…mostly due to the time to get the license from the Central Bank (applied Nov 2009, we got the license Nov 2011).
I’m very proud of our 14,000 agents who offer Paga services to their local communities and who are loyal to our mission. I’m especially proud that Paga has led to the creation of at least 10,000 jobs when you count the shopkeepers hired by agents and our own 200 staff.
It hasn’t been an easy journey and I am grateful to so many people who chose to come on this journey, without whom Paga won’t be here. Three mentions of thanks — first to Jay Alabraba for being a wonderful co-founder and partner. I couldn’t have asked for a better human being to be a partner on this journey and every day I am grateful for his commitment, steadfastness, and wisdom. Then to Eric Chijioke, our chief technology officer, for his passion for what we do and intense focus to ensure our platform is world class. These two gentlemen have been the best partners and are always there to give me sound advise, correct me when needed, and ensure that our business stays on sound footing.
Third, thanks to our awesome team! We are fortunate to have some amazing people who are dedicated to our mission. It is together we achieve and together we go forward to an exciting future ahead!
Finally, thanks to all our customers and agents. All who have used Paga or cheered us on from the sidelines. In the end, we won’t be here if not for you. We will continue to work hard on our mission, improving our services, and bringing more convenience to all Nigerians.
I’m very excited about the various offerings on our roadmap in the coming months…If you haven’t yet, please open your Paga account today — visit mypaga.com or dial *242# on any phone network, or at any Paga agent. For those of you who are banked you can link your cards and bank accounts to Paga — Paga is a companion to your bank account. For those who do not have a bank account you can access financial services through Paga! Looking forward to seeing you all on Paga!
