Abeg, a Nigerian social commerce platform, has rebranded to Pocket by Piggyvest-PocketApp and has received Approval in Principle from The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to operate as a Mobile Money company in Nigeria.
This development is in line with the firm’s bid to support seamless payments and online commerce throughout the country. Additionally, the rebranding underlines its evolution from a money transfer app to a social commerce platform
PocketApp received an Approval In Principle dated April 25, 2022, from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a license application to operate as a Mobile Money company. This is the first step towards final approval, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions as stipulated by the CBN.
Commenting on the approval, Odunayo Eweniyi, Co-Founder and COO of Piggytech Global Limited, stated, “We’re incredibly pleased that PocketApp has been granted an approval in principle as a Mobile Money Operator in Nigeria. We will now work closely with the Central Bank to meet all its conditions to receive the full operating license, enabling us to continue growing and expanding the scope of our social payments, social commerce and other digital financial products to reach millions of Nigerian micro-entrepreneurs.”
PocketApp affirms its commitment to the financial inclusion agenda of the CBN and the Federal Republic of Nigeria and will continue to make it easier for our teeming young population to seamlessly carry out their transactions while saving them costs and giving them more access to get paid.
The Mobile Money Operator license will enable the company to carry out activities around: Wallet Creation and Management, E-money issuing, USSD, agent recruitment and management, pool account management, non-bank acquiring as stipulated in the regulatory requirements for non-bank merchant acquiring in Nigeria, card acquiring, and any other activities that the CBN may permit.
Speaking on the company’s evolution, Patricia Adoga, COO of PocketApp, states, “For the last 18 months, we have been focused on building the core infrastructure that will enable secure social commerce and payments at scale. We believe that social commerce will thrive better in a more trusted environment. So we added escrow to our payment infrastructure, protecting buyers and sellers and many other features, ensuring a smooth shopping experience on the app.”
The app was launched as Abeg App in 2021. New as PocketApp, the payments app has about 2 million users to date. The company initially started its journey as a payment platform for sending and receiving money. It has since ventured into a complete social commerce app, connecting buyers and sellers across Nigeria and Africa.
