On Thursday September 23rd we launched the pilot of our mobile payments service, Paga. Paga is ready to launch nationwide once regulatory approvals are issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria. In preparation for our nationwide launch, we kicked off a closed loop pilot in Lagos. This pilot gives early access to a group of individuals who will give us valuable feedback on the platform and service.
Paga is underpinned by a secure and innovative payments platform built with the flexibility to operate in any environment and on the most basic mobile phone. We have taken a multi-stakeholder approach to the design and deployment of our mobile payments service. Paga works on all mobile networks and we are partnering with strong local banks, microfinance institutions, retailers, NGOs, and public sector organisations to achieve a vision of bringing affordable and reliable financial services to a larger segment of the Nigerian population.
We are very excited about the launch of the pilot - it is a key milestone for our team. The turn-out at our kick-off event and the reception of Paga has been quite positive. We are confident there is a latent demand and Nigeria is ready for a world class mobile payments service.