Paga Business Case at the Stanford Graduate School of Business

On Tuesday 19th May I was a guest speaker at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. I joined Steve Ciesinski, Lecturer at Stanford and Agnes Aistleitner co-founder of First Circle Capital. We jointly presented a case study of Paga.

Paga is an African Fintech providing a global financial services infrastructure for Africans.

Serving businesses and individuals through the Doroki and Paga apps. Paga co-founder Tayo Oviosu is a Stanford graduate. I joined Tayo last year to help present the Paga case study. Unfortunately, Tayo could not join us this time.

I know Paga and Tayo not just from the business case presentation last year, but from having Paga and Tayo as clients with my company Global Technology Partners. After GTP was sold to Onafriq, Paga became an Onafriq client.

Founded in 2009 Paga has faced and overcome multiple challenges including Covid and global economic disruptions from conflicts outside of Africa. The case study focused on the current challenges and opportunities Paga faces. Although founded 17 years ago and established in many ways Paga is a position many start-ups face: What geographic markets do I focus on, are we B to B or B to C, how do I deploy AI and other issues.

Paga has significant assets, its technology stack, market experience and seasoned leadership. It faces some hard choices as well, primarily on focus. Currently offering multiple solutions across B to B and B to C markets, do they need to focus on or prioritize one solution to concentrate resources and avoid conflicts? If so, which offers the best return on investment?

Paga is a pioneer in African fintech, launched and generating revenue before “fintech” was a thing. I think the key asset and strength of Paga is its leadership team. Tayo and his colleagues have the expertise, and I believe the perseverance to succeed.  I will be watching with keen interest on how Tayo and Paga advance this year and next.