hi @remi thanks for the question. Our focus is to win Nigeria. If we win Nigeria all these players will look for us to work with them. Indeed the two you mention already know us well and we have good relationships with them…
Now this AMA’s getting even more interesting! 
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I have 3 questions for you Mr. Tayo Oviosu. 1st of all thank you for taking the time and patience to answer our questions.
- Do MOST of Paga’s 3 million users do money transfer thru SMS/USSD or Internet by using app?
- If through SMS/USSD, why don’t they use an internet app when the internet is cheaper and quicker?
- If it is done through a mobile internet app, where can I download the app for my Android and J2ME Device, so that I can send money as well?
@oviosu Every week, I get email from people asking me to recommend payment gateways. Paga is also supposed to be able to help merchants receive payments online, but that’s also another rather arcane part of the service that a lot of people have trouble understanding.
There’s also supposed to be a developer API (no sign of it on the website the last I checked)…we are aware that SOLO is using it in its apps though.
Could you help us understand better how Paga’s payment platform works for merchants and developers?
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Hi @nubikayode My investment thesis is broad…as an example, I’ve invested in three companies (outside of Paga) in very different sectors for varying reasons…
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Reelfruit is exploiting the fruit value chain - Nigeria is one of the largest fruit producers but barely processes any of its fruit and barely exports…even the juice you drink is from imported concentrate! That needs to change and Reelfruit is going to make that happen.
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ChopUp is bringing relevant gaming ideas to live and for people to relax and enjoy…I love gaming and I know most people do, I want to see more Nigerian titles!
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Yswara - is building the Louis Vuitton of Africa and I love the idea - we have so much to be proud of in our great continent and I think we should also have our own luxury brands.
In terms of problems I wish people went to solve…I’ve been thinking about “local” quite a bit…I think there is something in providing access to locally relevant information in an easily accessible and engaging manner. I’ve seen one person trying to do this but not in a way I think will scale…also I’m hot on agriculture and the opportunities there…finally healthcare. I wish someone would go after emergency care - there are several aspects of it that need to be addressed…My advice to folks is to not care about having a “sexy” idea but go after areas they are passionate about…lots out there…
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Politics Perfected!
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Hi @lordbanks Paga has a few services available to those looking for a payment gateway:
- Paga e-Pay: This is our standard payment gateway. It is free to setup, and with it you can collect payments from customers with money in Paga account, MasterCard, Visa, and Verve. We have both SOAP and RESTful APIs for Paga e-Pay.
We have also created Paga e-Pay plugins for some popular shopping carts: OpenCart, Prestashop, Joomla Virtuemart
- Paga Connect: This is our one-click payments platform and it is an OAUTH-2.0 implementation. So anyone who has integrated Facebook or Twitter should be able to implement this. With Paga Connect you can currently do one-click payments for people with Paga accounts. You can also collect regular payments for MasterCard, Visa, and Verve. We will soon have support for one-click for cards.
You can check out the Paga developer wiki - we will link this from our website…we need to do better about sharing what we have for developers. Also we provide support to help people who may have questions.
All of these are free to setup, and we simply charge transaction fees.
For those who do not have the technical skills to implement a payment gateway, we are working on something very cool and simple - will announce that very soon…
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hi @davidsmith8900 thanks for joining the conversation…most of our users use our internet platform and android application. You can use [Paga’s website][1] (mobile friendly too) or download [Paga for Android][2] from the Play store (also works on BB 10!)
Please start sending money now now
[1]: http://www.mypaga.com
[2]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pagatech.customer.android
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Thank you for your reply, I appreciate it sir. Have A Good Thursday.
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Why am i always late in discussions like this!!!
@oviosu cool stuff you did and are doing with Paga, as far when i ask my mum have you heard of Paga and they she says i have not heard but i have seen that word Paga in “Kingsley shop” then 
you are doing a great job. But all the same i want to learn from your early days story in relation to Paga (That is the key).
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Sorry to say this but entrepreneurs are termed as crazy people, But what was your vision/passion that kept you going.
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During your startup stage, you said you executed founded paga 6 years ago, and by that time the Business plan was the tool to executed business which we know that “No Business plan works in first contact with users/customers” So How did you serve your customers needs that helped you sustain and scale?
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When things go bizarre during your startup days and you felt like, I QUIT!!! What was that thing that says push on the tunnel will be bright when you get to the end ?
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I consider myself an idealist, a lot of simple but classic innovations exist in Nigeria that we are not mining into, i have seen some of those and want to invest in them as products but my problem which still bugs my mind is can a startup like mine come up with three products at a time and have other CEO managing it but the main founder supervises the whole hypothesis and growth of these ideas?
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I am young in my early 20’s do you think a young person can manage this? Based on your experience or do i have to wait till i am 30 to do this.
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Most successful founders comes from dysfunctional families http://steveblank.com/2009/05/18/founders-and-dysfunctional-families/ am curious are you?
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I’m sure quite a few people are looking forward to that.
And thanks for making out the time to do this.
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Hi Tayo,
Thanks for doing what you do. I first want to give a poetic shout out to the team at Paga. You are an encouragement to those of us who plan on contributing our part towards developing Nigeria.
“With @mypaga you won’t be a baga with money. Paga ups your game. From your veranda you dominate the savanna. When I hear Paga I hear bonanza” ~Omo_Asa
My question is at a not too distant point in time is Paga open to operating in all of West Africa and not just Nigeria?
Thanks.
Hi Tayo,
Thanks for doing what you do. I first want to give a poetic shout out to the team at Paga. You are an encouragement to those of us who plan on contributing our part towards developing Nigeria.
“With @mypaga you won’t be a baga with money. Paga ups your game. From your veranda you dominate the savanna. When I hear Paga I hear bonanza” ~Omo_Asa
My question is at a not too distant point in time is Paga open to operating in all of West Africa and not just Nigeria?
Thanks.
@easyspotlight lol that rhymes and rocks!! Thank you for the shout out! We are definitely going to be expanding out of Nigeria in the “not too distant” future 
Thanks Tayo. You just made my afternoon. We definitely will have Paga as a strategic partner and will reach out to your company at the appropriate time.
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Tayo, how hard would it be for you to walk away from Paga? I witnessed one of you first pitches way way back before the lights came on, when you were still very humble. LOL!! So, looking at how much of you life has gone in there, How hard would it be for you to walk away and start something 100% new? This is a Business Founder Question.
@Uduak I’d like to think I am still very humble. I don’t take too many things too seriously…Paga is my baby and so it would definitely be hard to walk away. That said, I will walk away one day, and all I can pray and hope is that it is my own decision
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Oops: late as usual! Tayo thanks so much for taking the time to do this. I’m not sure if its too late, but my question is around the geographical distribution of your 8,000 (amazing!) agents.
I don’t know whether there’s anything you could say about that in public or it would need to be in the context of a biz discussion, but basically, if one is looking to partner with Paga and is thinking of geography, how would one know where the agents are, and how to phase/plan things? Do you have a density map or something like that?
Many thanks and congrats on the 3m!
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@oviosu why no shopify support yet?
Hi @oviosu ,
Super glad to have you here on radar.
I’ve been privileged to be one of the 2nd-level vendors who have worked on Paga designs, especially on the SCRM front. I wanted to ask how Paga uses design (and design thinking) as part of its Business+Brand strategy.
Thanks 
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