For close to a decade, Paga had its software developed and maintained in Ethiopia. This came as a result of an arrangement the company reached with Apposit, close to 10 years ago.
While starting out, Paga considered outsourcing the software development to India. Until they met up with the team from Apposit - a software development firm based in Ethiopia.
The firm not only ended up developing and maintaining the software, but they also became investors in Paga.
Yet, as Paga grows, there seems to be an increasing demand that they also have another team set up in Nigeria. Tayo thinks one of the reasons is the advantage of understanding the problem they are solving firsthand.
"By having the engineering team based in a market where we do not yet operate, we lose some level of empathy that is born of interacting with the product and users," he wrote.
They have thus decided to hire the co-founders of a startup that Tayo before invested in.
"I am excited to announce that Bayo Puddicombe and Zubair Abubakar, co-founders of ChopUp - along with Daniel Micah - have joined Paga’s Product Development team as our first Nigerian based engineers."
Bayo joined Paga as a Senior Software Engineer. He will lead the company's Digital Financial Services team. While Zubair joined as a Senior Software Engineer. He will lead the Developer API and Developer Community team.
Also read: How Ethiopia-based Apposit became Paga’s technology provider
Both will report to Eric Chijioke, Paga's Chief Product Officer. Eric also doubles as a co-founder at Apposit.
In October this year, Paga raised a $10 million Series B extension. They pointed out that they will be looking to use the funding to expand beyond Nigeria and the continent.