Paga, a Nigeria-based mobile payments company, has a partnership with Investment firm, Untapped Global to provide point of sale equipment (POS) funding for small businesses and retailers in the country.
Paga’s POS devices enable merchants to accept cards, mobile payments, and other forms of digital payments, making it easy for them to get paid and providing other value-added financial services to their customers.
Funding provided through Untapped Global is structured to reduce the total cost of entry for merchants to purchase handheld POS terminals, with payments being made from the revenue generated by the devices.
After a successful pilot program in which 2,000 retailers were supplied with financed POS devices at the beginning of the year, both companies have decided to scale their partnership, according to Paga founder and Group CEO Tayo Oviosu.
“We’re excited to be scaling our POS rollout program with Untapped,” says Oviosu. “We have built the best entrances and exits for cash in Nigeria via Paga’s agent network and are further digitizing merchants using our new Doroki merchant platform.”
Over the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic has increased the speed with which digital-first companies – like Paga in Nigeria and Yoco in South Africa – normalize the use of technology in payments and money transfers in the informal economy across Africa.
Lowering the cost of entry to using mobile payments is key to bringing small businesses the benefits of this growing fintech revolution.
The Paga Group currently has over 33,000 dealers across its ecosystem. By working with Untapped to reduce POS startup and onboarding costs for merchants, the company expects to reach 120,000 merchants in the next two years.
San Francisco-based Untapped Global makes capital available to asset-based companies like Paga through its Smart Asset Financing model, which uses technology to track assets and generate real-time revenue.
“Our goal at Paga Group is to make it easier for 1 billion people to pay, pay and access financial services,” says Oviosu. “The Untapped team is focused on that goal, and the current partnership demonstrates its goal of empowering entrepreneurs to reach their full potential.”
Untapped focuses on Africa and other emerging markets with teams in East Africa, West Africa, the Caribbean and Europe.
“We are excited to use Smart Asset Financing to significantly improve access to financial services across Nigeria with partners who know the field best like Paga,” said Founder and CEO Jim Chu.
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