Mauritius-based fintech company, Paga Group, is moving its legal jurisdiction out of Nigeria and redomiciling to the UK. CEO, Tayo Oviosu, made the announcement via his Twitter page.
The Paga Group has redomiciled to the UK 🇬🇧!
The Paga Group is the holding company for our operations in all countries – Nigeria, México, Ethiopia, and the United Kingdom.
Very excited about this move and look forward to working with @tradegovuk to promote trade with the UK!
— Tayo Oviosu (@oviosu) September 25, 2020
Tayo quoted a Twitter thread from 15th May 2019 highlighting the reason for the decision. From the post, it seems the CEO was frustrated by the courts and laws of the East African country.
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“The laws and courts of Mauritius are not very fast-moving, and the rules are difficult. I’ve had one court case that was eventually thrown out after a year. In the UK it would have been thrown out immediately, and the person would have had to pay us for our lawyer fees.
“Basically, not an easy place to do business. It is more painful than useful. I say stick to good ol’ America or UK or Netherlands or Luxemburg. Where you know there are professionals, and the legal system works,” he said.
I will NEVER register a business in Mauritius again. You can take that to the bank.
So painful – not worth it.
— Tayo Oviosu (@oviosu) May 15, 2019
The move is worrying as unless the rules and systems in African countries change, it is a trend that many African domiciled companies will follow. Tayo founded Paga in 2009, with the mission of addressing the use of cash and to expand financial access.
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