CEO and Founder of Paga
Country: Nigeria
Sector: Technology
Paga is a mobile payments company that is focused on digitizing cash in emerging economies. Nigeria is Paga’s first market. it was founded by Tayo obvious in 2009 he said he started the company to address the use of cash and expand financial access.
Early Life and Education
Oviosu was born in Lagos Nigeria on 10 ,September 1977. He had his early years in Nigeria before leaving for the United States in 1994 at the age of 16. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, from the University of Southern California in 1998. He later proceeded to have his Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University in 2005.
PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Tayo’s success did not come easily; he worked five jobs to pay his way through university. Following graduation, he landed his first job with a small startup in digital imaging development in Los Angeles, California.
On one occasion, he was tasked with designing a chip that was sent to Taiwan for fabrication. He was confident that the design would work after testing it several times in the lab. However, the Prototype was returned as a failure, humiliating his company and costing them money. The incident also resulted in his dismissal, just three months after starting his first job after graduation.
To make ends meet after being thrown into the California labor market, he worked in a mail room and a call center. After working as a database administrator, he joined Deloitte Consulting in 1999.
He worked on cases in five industries while at Deloitte, including high tech, telecom, pharmacy retail, government, and healthcare. He was primarily in charge of technical implementation teams.
Oviosu also worked at Cisco Systems in San Jose, California, as a Manager, Corporate Development, where he was in charge of strategy, acquisitions, and private equity investments in four technology sectors: virtual computing, application networking, security, and network management.
He also oversaw Cisco’s African investment expansion, which included the $130 million acquisition of Reactivity as well as investments in Aquantia and Guardium. In 2007, he was also in charge of the private sale of 22 percent of Cisco’s South African operations to a group of investors.
He returned to Nigeria in 2008 after spending 13 years in the United States to contribute to the country’s economic development. His personal mission, he stated, was to assist in the development of Nigeria’s financial ecosystem.
For the first six months, Oviosu bootstrapped the startup using only his savings from his previous job. He also used the services of friends to help him in various areas. His former boss, with whom he worked, was among the early investors.
In an interview with the Guardian, he recalled how a friend put up $5,000 in the early days of Paga. He also acknowledged Paga’s true angel investor, Goodwell Alitheia Capital. Currently, there are more than 34 investors.
Paga has grown steadily since its inception, with 8.2 million users processing over 2 million transactions worth over $131 million in March 2018. Since its inception, it has also processed over $3 billion in transactions from 48 million transactions.
With over 15,000 transacting agents serving its dedicated communities in 35 states across the country, the mobile money platform currently has the largest agent network. It has also collaborated with the apex bank (Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN) on the Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities initiative (SANEF) to increase the reach of agents providing financial services to 500,000 in order to increase inclusion for all Nigerians.
Honors
Oviosu was named Entrepreneur of the Year West Africa by CNBC in 2014. Paga and Oviosu were recognized by the African Leadership Network for the company’s outstanding growth in 2015.
Oviosu has led numerous Cisco investment expansions and acquisitions (worldwide leader in IT and networking). These have included the acquisitions of Reactivity, Aquantia, and Guardium for a total of US$ 130 million. Oviosu was also in charge of the private sale of 22% of Cisco’s South African operations to a group of investors.
Oviosu belongs to the Young Presidents’ Organization. The Young Presidents’ Organization is a global chief executive leadership community.
On October 11, 2017, he spoke at the TechCrunch Battlefield Africa 2017 conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
On September 5, 2018, he spoke at the TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 event in San Francisco. Endeavor chose Oviosu to join the organization at the 84th International Selection Panel, which was held in Stellenbosch from December 11 to December 13, 2018.
Tayo Oviosu Net worth
Tayo oviosu net worth is estimated to be $50 Million.
