Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-11-16)

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BloombergBusinessweek November 16, 2020

TayuOviosu

Founder,Paga

WhatproblemorproblemswasPagadesignedtosolve?

I hatecarryingcash.I’mthatfriendthatshowsupatthe

restaurant,andI don’thavecash.If theydon’ttakethecard,

we’redone.AndsowhenI movedbacktoNigeriaafterstudy-

ingandworkingintheU.S.,I waslike,“Wow,thisis a huge

problem.There’sgottobea betterwaythanformetohave

tocarrywadsofcashwhenI wanttogoout.”Often,theATMs

arenotworking.Andthereareonlylike5,000ATMsout-

sideofa bankbranchinNigeria.Andpoint-of-salemachines,

manytimesthereareissues,andthey’renotworkingprop-

erly.SoI waslike,“There’sgottobea waytopayusingyour

mobilephoneoranyinternet-connecteddevice.”

SohowdoesPagawork?

WithPaga,youcansendmoneytoanyoneinNigeriausing

yourmobilephonenumber.Youcanpayanyutilitybilllike

yourelectricity,yourtelevision,orbuyairtimeordata.You

cansendmoneytoanybankinNigeria.Youcandothiseither

ona smartphoneora dumbphone.Weworkacrossallmobile

networks,andwepartnerwiththebanks.I tellpeopleto

thinkofit likewe’reSquareorPayPalforemergingmarkets.

Whatweresomeofthe initial

challengesinstartingPaga?

The epiphany I had was

thatforustoreachthemass

market,wehadtobuilda net-

workofwhatwe call agents.

Thesearemomandpops,phar-

macies,grocerystores—people

inthelocalcommunitywhoare

trusted.Andsowehadtogo

doortodoor,buildingoutthis

distributionnetwork.Wenow

have26,000agents.Theyhave

a Pagasignoutside,andI cangoinandsay,“Hey,I wantto

send$50tomymom.Here’sherphonenumberorhere’sher

bankaccountnumber.”

Doyouhaveplanstoexpandintoothermarkets?

We’reveryexcitedaboutwhatwe’veachievedinNigeria,

wherewehave 16 millionuserssofar.Mexicois thenextmar-

ketwherewe’relaunching,andit’sactuallyamazinglysimilar

toNigeria.It’sthe15th-largesteconomyintheworld,but90%

ofMexicansdon’tevensaveina formalfinancialinstitution.

Andeveryone’susingcash.We’realsolaunchinginEthiopia,

whereweactuallyalreadyhavea teamofabout 60 people.

It’sthesecond-largest country in Africa by population. We’re

playing the long game there. �Interviewed by Jed Rosenberg

XieZhenhua

President, Climate Change and Sustainable Development

Institute, Tsinghua University

You’ve been devoted to the cause of climate change for many

years. What has motivated you?

I have worked in the fields of environmental protection,

emissions reduction, climate change, and sustainable devel-

opment for more than 40 years, so my understanding of

these issues has become more and more profound. At the

verybeginning,youmightsaythatthisis a profession.But

aftera while,youseethatif youdothisworkwell,youwill

benefithumanity.

AtthemostrecentUnitedNationsGeneralAssembly,China

announced a plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Can you

tellusmoreaboutthat?

PresidentXisaid thatascountries workto restore

economic health after the pandemic, leaders should set

their sights on a green, high-quality recovery. It is very dif-

ficult or even impossible to achieve this goal using tradi-

tional production methods and traditional technologies. We

must innovate, we must transform, and we must accelerate

the transformation.

Do you believe China and the U.S. can once again cooperate on

climate in the future?

The U.S. federal government withdrew [from the Paris

Agreement]. But we have never lost contact with local gov-

ernments, universities, and companies in the United States.

We have always maintained good cooperation with very good

results. So at this point, regardless of the domestic situation

in the United States, wearealwayswilling to cooperate with

theUnitedStatesonthisissue.

YouwereChina’schiefclimate

negotiator for many years. What

skills did you bring to the job?

If you are a negotiator and do

not defend your own national

interests, everyone will look

downonyou.Youhavetofind

a balancebetweensafeguarding

nationalinterestsandadvancing

the global process. The key is

to arrive at a final result that

is acceptable to everyone.

Everyone may not be satisfied,

but everyone can accept it. At this point, I have negotiated

for more than 10 years. I was the head of the delegation and

had many opponents, but they are all my friends. We are

still in touch.

�Interviewed by Li Jing and Lucille Liu

s, the entrepreneur helping Nigeriansgocashless,andthenegotiatorhelpingsetChina’sambitiousclimate agenda

� �

THE NEW ECONOMY