Paga has remained one of the few Nigerian fintechs to survive and sustain operations over 17 years, while many peers burned through capital chasing rapid expansion. Co-founder and CEO Tayo Oviosu credited this longevity to deliberate choices, including avoiding the crowded card-payment gateway space dominated by companies like Paystack and Flutterwave. He argued that Nigeria was never a card-first market, and entering that arena would have diverted resources from Paga's core strengths. Instead, the company focused on alternative payment rails, prioritising gross profit over top-line revenue growth. Oviosu described revenue as a "vanity metric," saying gross profit is what keeps businesses alive, a stance that contrasts with the growth-at-all-costs models embraced by many fintechs during the funding boom.
Paga shifted from being purely consumer-facing to becoming an infrastructure provider, a model Oviosu likened to Amazon Web Services. This evolved into what he calls the "Paga Engine," offering backend systems that allow banks, wallets, retailers, and other businesses to embed financial services into their platforms. The company avoided distributing POS terminals at little or no cost, a tactic used by rivals to accelerate customer acquisition, choosing instead to maintain healthy margins. Oviosu also challenged the notion that agent banking in Nigeria is nearing saturation. He stated agent banking is a 20-year business, noting that about 80% of agent transactions are still cash withdrawals, underscoring the enduring role of cash in Nigerian commerce. Rather than seeing OPay and PalmPay solely as competitors, Paga is increasingly pursuing collaboration and integration across the financial ecosystem. On technology, Oviosu highlighted AI as a productivity tool, not a replacement for staff, revealing that Paga adopted Claude Code to accelerate internal development and build an automated reconciliation system.
Tayo Oviosu's emphasis on gross profit over revenue growth exposes the fragility of fintechs that prioritised scale without sustainable unit economics. Paga's infrastructure-focused model offers a viable path in a market where cash dependence remains high and consumer acquisition costs are inflated. While rivals raced to dominate customer-facing services, Paga's restraint may prove more durable in Nigeria's unpredictable financial landscape. The adoption of AI as a development aid, not a headline gimmick, reflects a pattern of quiet, practical innovation over hype.
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