The former Chairman, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Chief Economist, Mr. Jim O’Neill, has invested in Paga, an indigenous mobile payments service company according to Nigerian newspaper, Punch.
O’Neil is famed for coining the acronym BRIC and then later, MINT. The MINT countries, according to O’Neil, are the next set of countries he believes will be the growth markets that will shape the world’s economy in the coming decades. The MINT countries are: Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey.
Paga, a Nigerian indigenous mobile payment service company, celebrated 5 years of being in existence and doing business in Nigeria. Despite being a very tough business to build and traction taking a long time, Paga has made several strides and recorded impressive numbers of customers. I have used the service and I can testify that the service has grown in features from the time they launched. I use it primarily for recharging my mobile phone and sending money to people. Online businesses/ecommece can receive money through Paga also. Hotel.ng, an online hotel booking service. recently integrated the Paga as one of options available to their customers.
O’Neill expressed confidence that the entrepreneurial abilities of Nigeria’s younger demographic would be a catalyst for growth over the next 20 years. He added that indigenous startups, such as Paga, which were focused on a key sector – payments, would be the major drivers of growth.
How Paga will keep growing should be of interest in the face of competition with services like Pocketmoni and GTBank Mobile Money.
“On meeting the founder of Paga and understanding his vision for Paga, it was very obvious that we both shared the belief that with the right approach, Nigeria possessed the potential for huge economic growth. It is clear to me that Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, needs payment systems that work for both businesses and individuals for her to reach her potential,” O’Neil said.
Paga in the last five years has not slowed down. O’Neil, has he has stated, has seen a gem in the people behind the company and sees huge prospect in their offering to the Nigerian market.
Tayo, the founder of Paga, is equally thrilled that the 205-man team has put together an impressive work that attracted Jim O’Neil to come on board as an investor.
