Tayo Oviosu

Companies House records his name as Eyitayo David Oviosu, his birth in September 1977 and American nationality. In a Stanford interview, he said he was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria.⁠[1][2]

He recalled in his School of Hard Knocks interview that his mother raised five sons on her own, that he was the youngest and that the family faced financial difficulties. He moved to the United States in 1994.⁠[3][4]

He earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California in 1998. Paga’s official biography specifies that he graduated cum laude.⁠[4][5]

He recalled joining an eight-person chip startup after graduation, being dismissed after about three months when an imaging chip he designed failed, and subsequently working in a mailroom, call centre and database design before Deloitte Consulting. He later viewed the setback as a turning point in recognising his strengths.⁠[6]

He earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2005. His subsequent career included serving as a corporate-development manager at Cisco Systems in California, working on corporate investment and development.⁠[4][5]

He returned to Nigeria in 2008 and served as vice-president at West African private-equity firm Travant Capital Partners before leaving to develop a business.⁠[4][5][2]

He teamed up with Jay Alabraba to establish Paga, aiming to reduce the inconvenience of carrying cash and enable digital payments for individuals and merchants. He initially used savings and support from friends and former managers, bootstrapping the first six months.⁠[7][6]

Paga received a full operating licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria in November 2011. Its model combined mobile wallets with physical agents, allowing customers to transfer, receive and make payments through outlets such as shops.⁠[8]

Paga began commercial operations in 2012 and closed its Series A funding round that June. Mobile tools and agents jointly served customers needing connections between cash and digital payments.⁠[7][8]

CNBC named him its West African Entrepreneur of the Year for 2014. The following year, the African Leadership Network recognised Paga as an outstanding growing company; that award was made to the company.⁠[9]

Techpoint questioned differences between Paga’s roughly 9.1 million unique users and NIBSS industry data. Paga explained that it counted transacting phone numbers, including agent customers; one person using different numbers could count more than once. Oviosu separately reported 1.6 million active users. This was a statistical dispute, not a regulatory finding of wrongdoing.⁠[10]

Paga raised $10 million in Series B2 funding led by Global Innovation Fund, with Goodwell Investments, Adlevo Capital, Omidyar Network and Unreasonable Capital participating. The funding supported expansion plans.⁠[11]

Companies House records his appointment on this date as a director of the UK-registered PAGA GROUP LTD. This corporate appointment does not change the business’s origins in 2009.⁠[1]

Paga completed its acquisition of longstanding technology partner Apposit. Discussions began in 2018, an agreement was signed in July 2019, and closing followed regulatory approval in January 2020. Oviosu later reflected that the technical and management teams needed more thorough communication and integration.⁠[2]

Paga opened its Collect APIs to more businesses; Doroki entered commercial operation in November, supporting merchants with payment devices and related services.⁠[7]

African Leadership Academy and African Leadership Foundation announced new board members, including Oviosu. The current institutional directory places him on the African Leadership Foundation board, supporting the development of young African leaders.⁠[12][13]

Unreasonable Group lists him as a fellow of its 2024 GOALS programme. Its biography also identifies him as an Endeavor Entrepreneur.⁠[9]

Paga introduced Doroki cloud-based retail software in Lagos, combining orders, inventory, payments and customer management. At the launch, Oviosu emphasised reducing the burden of using multiple tools for small businesses. The software launch developed the existing Doroki business.⁠[14][7]

Paga announced US expansion for Africa’s diaspora, initially serving Nigerians resident in the United States with dollar accounts, Visa debit cards and US–Nigeria transfers. The announcement identifies Paga as a fintech company, with banking services provided by Regent Bank.⁠[15]

Paga announced that users could link PayPalPayPalPayPal Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: PYPL) is an American digital payments company that operates payment brands including PayPal, Venmo, Braintree, and Xoom, providing online and in-store payments, money transfers, and consumer credit to consumers and merchants worldwide.Open the full entry with Paga wallets, receive cross-border payments and withdraw funds into local naira balances. Oviosu described the collaboration as connecting global payments with local use in Nigeria.⁠[16]

Paga announced that Oviosu would remain Group CEO and become executive chairman of the group and non-executive chairman of its Nigerian subsidiary, focusing on new markets, funding and Paga Labs work involving stablecoins, cryptoassets and AI. Ope Oyinloye became Group COO and acting Nigeria CEO, with the latter appointment awaiting central-bank no-objection at announcement. The company reported 169 million transactions worth ₦17 trillion in 2025, representing payment processing volume.⁠[17]

Paga announced a partnership with Crossmint to build multichain stablecoin wallets and local fiat on- and off-ramp infrastructure for African markets. The announcement described a collaboration and deployment programme, rather than completion of every planned function.⁠[18]

Paga and TBook announced plans to broaden access to investment products using tokenised real-world-asset infrastructure on Sui. The announcement made implementation subject to local regulatory arrangements and relevant entities; it did not establish that every product was available in all markets.⁠[19]

He appeared in Inside Africa’s Billionaire City (Lagos), discussing delegation, following up opportunities and his mission to support African development. He put the company’s best annual revenue at about $60 million without specifying the year. This was his account of company business, not evidence of personal net worth.⁠[3]

He is a co-founder of angel-investment club Kairos Angels. His wife, Affiong Williams, founded food business ReelFruit.⁠[20][4]

His personal X account is https://x.com/oviosu (opens in a new window), directly linked from an institutional biography; its profile lists Paga, Doroki and related affiliations. His LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry profile, https://www.linkedin.com/in/oviosu/ (opens in a new window), is also directly linked from an original interview.⁠[9][21][7]