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Oviosu, Paga Boss Speaks @ 2017 Spring Meetings, Washington DC
Tayo Oviosu, founder and CEO Paga, Nigeria’s #1 Digital Financial Service company, spoke at the Spring Meetings hosted by World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC recently.
The Spring Meetings, each year brings together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness.
The conference featured a variety of seminars, panel discussions, regional briefings and many other events.
As part of the 2017 Spring Meetings, Paga was used as a case study for Digital Financial Services during the session “Driving Digital Financial Inclusion in Africa”.
This is evident of World Bank Group and IMF recognition of Paga’s role in championing the growth of digital financial services to the mass market in Nigeria.
Paga’s innovation is at the core of transformation of financial inclusion in Nigeria by providing technology that benefits individuals and small businesses in Nigeria – those who have no access to formal financial services and credit.
Speaking on digital financial services in Nigeria, Carla Grarsso, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund said: “It’s really fantastic what technology is doing. Financial inclusion and the broader availability f financial services are critical. It is critical for women and young people to build their assets in creating new enterprise. Africa leads the world in the use of mobile technology and these developments being challenges of their own – regulation and educating consumers about new products. This session showed us insights into how Nigeria is navigating these complex issues. Financial inclusion goes hand-in-hand with financial instability which is our core of business. We are supporting financial inclusion through our capacity development activities and the more we learn from innovators like Tayo Oviosu, the better equipped we are to serve our membership. We are excited to be part of this wave of technological progress and we can wait to see how it will improve the lives of millions of people in the not so distant future.”
Tayo shared his entrepreneurial experiences with Paga aiming to solve two problems – ease of payments, and access to finance for the mass market.
He shared Paga’s role in delivering digital financial services to all areas across Nigeria through the Paga Agent Network of over 11,000 entrepreneurs in all states of the country.
Compared to the 5,358 branches of all banks in Nigeria, the Paga Agent network is the single largest and most active network of financial services access points in Nigeria.
Paga Agents offer a convenient location for customers to send money to anyone using the recipients phone number, deposit money to any bank account, withdraw money from bank accounts, and pay bills.
Reflecting on his invitation by the IMF to be a keynote speaker at the Spring Meetings Oviosu said “It is a great recognition of the work of our 200-person strong team that the IMF would invite me to give a keynote talk on digital financial services using Paga as a case study.
At Paga we are very focused on building Africa’s #1 payments and digital bank. Our strategy and approach is unique in that we have built an agent network that is open to banks to leverage and we will also over financial services in partnership with the banks leveraging our platform. Our goal is to bring access to financial services to 30m Nigerians by 2020.”
Tayo founded Paga in 2009 with a mission to deliver innovative and universal access to financial services for individuals and businesses across Africa.
Today, Paga has over 200 employees, 6 million unique customers and over 11,000 authorized agents enabling trade, business and economic growth across Nigeria.
Paga continues to innovate and work closely with banks and other financial institutions to introduce more services that will make it even easier for people to conveniently make payments and get access to financial services.
Legit.ng recently joined forces with the Shade of Life Foundation to become a voice of autism, and drive advocacy for improved media support during Autism Awareness Month.
Participants at the event
Conversations around media support exploration was led by Joseph Omotayo, head of Department for Human Interest Stories at Legit.ng, and Dr. Eziafakaku Nwokolo, founder and CEO of the Shade of Life Foundation,
This partnership is a response to the concerns raised by organizations like the Shade of Life Foundation about the level of support received from the media in discussing autism as a disability.
While other disabilities may receive attention, autism, with its critical developmental implications often lacks adequate representation in mainstream media.
Recognizing the importance of addressing these concerns, Legit.ng took proactive steps by integrating itself into the essence of autism awareness.
It facilitated a one-hour workshop with Dr. Nwokolo, the founder of the foundation, to deepen our understanding of autism, its various spectrums, and the language boundaries associated with it.
Other steps we took in advocating autism awareness in the media, can be seen in our attached press release.
Legit.ng believes that by amplifying the voices of autism and advocating for better media representation, we can contribute to creating a more inclusive and accepting society for all.
While 85 per cent of Nigeria is in darkness, Tanzania, an African country has shut down five hydroelectric stations in a bid to reduce excess electricity in the national grid.
Kassim Majaliwa, prime minister, Tanzania, has said the main plant, Mwalimu Nyerere Hydroelectric Station, alone generated enough electricity to power major cities, including Dar es Salaam, the country’s commercial hub.
It is the first time Tanzania, which suffers chronic power shortages, has closed hydroelectric stations due to excess production.
“We have turned off all these stations because the demand is low and the electricity production is too much, we have no allocation now,” an official from state-run power company, Tanesco, said.
The 2,115MW Julius Nyerere Hydropower Dam is said to be almost filled with water following heavy rains that started early this year.
Meanwhile, while the country has an installed capacity of 1,938MW and the grid installed capacity of 1,899MW, Nigeria which has an installed capacity of 13,000MW is struggling to electrify 85 per cent of its electricity consumers.
President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Jim Ovia, renowned banker and businessman, as the Chairman, Board of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.
Jim Ovia
Ovia’s appointment is contained in a State House statement titled, ‘President Tinubu appoints Jim Ovia as Chairman of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund,’ and issued on Friday by Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the President, Media & Publicity.
The statement noted that “Ovia is the founder of one of Nigeria’s leading banks and a respected business leader, with a surfeit of efforts and benefaction towards nurturing and empowering young Nigerians.
“He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Louisiana.”
The National Student Loan Programme is a pivotal intervention that seeks to guarantee sustainable higher education and functional skill development for all Nigerian students and youths.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund, the implementing institution of this innovation, demands excellence and Nigerians of the finest professional ilk to guide and manage.
“The President believes Mr. Ovia will bring his immense wealth of experience and professional stature to this role to advance the all-important vision of ensuring that no Nigerian student suffers a capricious end to their pursuit of higher education over a lack of funds,” the statement partly read.
Ovia’s appointment will also ensure “that Nigerian youths, irrespective of who they are, have access to higher education and skills that will make them productive members of society and core contributors to the knowledge-based global economy of this century.”
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