PagaTech
Location
Nigeria
Sector
Banking and Financial Services
Type of Investment
Risk Capital
Project Stage
Length of Investment
2018+
Website
Investment Overview
Paga is one of Nigeria’s leading mobile payments and digital financial services companies. Digital financial services such as Paga offered to the mass market can play a powerful role in promoting inclusive growth.
The Development Challenge
In Nigeria 42% of the population is financially excluded, and that proportion has been increasing. Many Nigerians are reliant on the cash economy, with 62% not having a bank account. A lack of essential financial products holds back the poorest in society from creating safety nets and opportunities to get out of poverty. Even as the rate of urban migration rapidly increases, issues with the traditional financial system have excluded a majority of the growing urban population. Women and youth are particularly underserved, with 47% of women and 53.5% of those aged between 18 and 25 financially excluded, compared with 37% of men.
The Innovation
Paga is driving financial access and usage for the mass market by using a large and growing agent network (small kiosk shops, pharmacies, etc.) to deliver a variety of financial services including P2P money transfers, transfers to bank accounts, bill payments, airtime purchases, receiving remittances and savings. In addition, Paga has developed a direct consumer application tapping into the rapid increase in smart mobile phone usage and internet in Nigeria. More recently, Paga has introduced solutions for small merchants and businesses to digitise their payments and collections.
Our Investment
Our investment, via Equity and Debt, is backing Paga to increase its country wide footprint of agents, and develop solutions for small businesses to digitise their cash collections and payments. We are also supporting Paga to use its market leader position to positively influence system wide change, both in the market and in terms of regulation, while enabling other promising financial inclusion technologies to flourish.
PagaTech in numbers
agents
payments processed
Users