Nigeria’s mobile money story is one of quiet transformation built not in glass towers, but through millions of small daily transactions happening across markets, bus parks, and neighborhoods.
What began as a push for financial inclusion has now become one of the country’s biggest fintech success stories, powered by smartphones and a fast-growing digital economy.
As affordable smartphones found their way into more Nigerian hands, mobile wallets became the simplest bridge between cash and convenience. The results have been staggering. Data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) shows that mobile money transactions hit N20.71 trillion($13.95 billion) in Q1 2025, a jump of 1,518% from N1.28 trillion in Q1 2021.
According to an earlier report by Nairametrics, Donald Ubeh, Head of Risk and Compliance at PalmPay, says mobile money operators have helped raise Nigeria’s financial inclusion rate to 74% in 2023, up from 51% in 2016. Today, over 1.5 million agents are on the field, handling about 60% of all transactions and moving more than $1 trillion in 2023 alone.
Behind these numbers are the founders building the digital rails of Nigeria’s payment system visionaries, who saw opportunity where banks saw barriers.
Methodology
In this feature, we spotlight owners of Mobile Money Operators licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the people reshaping how money moves across Africa’s largest economy.
Although there are 18 licensed Mobile Money Operators (MMOs) in Nigeria, this list focuses only on companies with publicly verifiable data footprints, including ownership records, founding history, and regulatory documentation. Other licensed operators not featured here either have limited public disclosures or closed documentation regarding their company ownership and control structures.
Tayo Oviosu is a Nigerian-American entrepreneur and the Founder and Group CEO of Paga, a leading mobile payments company licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Founded in 2009, Paga’s mission is to simplify how people access and use money by digitizing cash and promoting financial inclusion across emerging markets. Today, it serves over 20 million users in Nigeria.
- Originally from Edo State, Oviosu holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Southern California and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Before launching Paga, he held roles at Deloitte Consulting, Cisco Systems, and Travant Capital Partners, where he gained extensive experience in strategy, corporate development, and private equity. He is also the co-founder of Kairos Angels, an investment platform supporting early-stage African startups. Oviosu’s vision continues to shape Africa’s digital payments and fintech landscape.
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