What Is Paga?

Founded by Tayo Oviosu in 2009 in Nigeria, Paga is a mobile payment platform that enables people to electronically transfer money ad make payments right through their smartphones.

Officially launched in 2011, this app is a form of a mobile wallet where anybody, with a mobile device, can execute transactional activities.

How Does Paga Work?

The primary aim of Paga was to make the most out of cash build-up in a system and to develop a way to make financial services available to everybody. Although the Nigerian banking sector is not easily accessible to the residents, the telecommunication Industry has turned out to be more successful in touching the larger population.

Only with the collaboration of the telecom and the banking sector, mobile banking platforms, such as Paga, could rise in popularity. All it takes is a mobile device to perform fundamental financial transactions.

Paga operates through a company website and a mobile application; thus, giving adequate options to users. Apart from allowing the deposit and savings of money, Paga also lets its users buy prepaid phone credit, make payments to varying retailers, pay cable bills and utility bills amidst others. Across Nigeria, Paga has a lot of outlets where agents act as humanoid ATMs. A paga user, whether account holder or a non-holder, who wants to transfer money, will have to provide the phone number of the Receipt to the agent.

And then, the agent will use his phone to transact the money. The amount, however, will be debited from the sender’s account.

User Levels of Paga

To prevent fraud transactions, Paga has put up specific measures to safeguard its user base. For instance, somebody logging into a device that is unrecognized will have to give answers for a few security questions before moving ahead. Also, every transaction must be done with a personal PIN code.

And then, every person is grouped into three different levels. The ones in level 1 are registered with phone number and a full name and can only transact up to ₦50,000 ($138) in a day. Level 2 customers have ID card information, address, phone number and full name.

They are allowed a daily transaction of up to ₦200,000 ($551). Lastly, the Level 3 customers have a credit check, and two references along with the details of Level 2 customers and they can transact up to ₦5,000,000 ($13,780) in a day.