PayAngel is a money transfer solution created by an African for Africans to facilitate easy money transfers on the continent and across the world. The man behind the business, Jones Amegbor is a humble man from Keta in the Volta region of Ghana.
Born and raised in Keta, Jones grew up selling corn dough at a local hospital with his brother before school each morning. The money from this went to his family and to providing for some of the things they needed. Perhaps, this was God’s way of preparing him for the world of finance and business, by giving him an early glimpse into what running a business entails.
A few years into his education, he moved to Accra and enrolled at the Kwashiman Anglican Basic School. It was here that he wrote his Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in order to enter secondary school. Initially planning to study General Science, the head mistress of the school discouraged him and even went as far as changing the secondary schools he had selected and the program he had chosen to study on his BECE. Fortunately , he gained admission to his dream school, Legon Presbyterian Boys Secondary but he was admitted to the Business program. After being unable to change his program of study despite his best efforts, Jones settled into the Business program.
During his time here, he made his first entrance into the world of student leadership by being nominated for Library prefect. He proceeded to the University of Ghana Business School to study Accounting where he was once again tipped by colleagues for Student Leadership. Very timid and shy, he finally decided to go ahead with it after encountering a lecturer who encouraged him. During his tenure leading the association of business students, he started the Legon Business Journal to opposition from the school’s management due to fear of it being used as a political tool. After a lengthy back and forth, he and his executives were successful. During this time , he made valuable connections that were beneficial to him later in life.
Jones finished his program at the university of Ghana but didn’t go for his graduation due to some issues he had with the school’s administration. During this time, he was in London. As life would have it, he returned to do his National Service at the African Virtual University on Legon campus. He turned down an offer to become a TA at School of Administration, looking to experience new things.
After National Service, Jones was offered employment at Ecobank through a connection he made during his time as a student leader. Looking to fit his education at the time, he turned the offer down to return to London to pursue an MBA Information Technology at Coventry University. From Coventry, he joined Barclays Bank, as call center employee, got transferred to a branch in a few months and became one of the top employees within a short period of time. He was eventually transferred to the headquarters of the bank due to his hard work.
Jones started PayAngel as a way to change things as he was finding the long process of sending money home to Ghana to be too costly and inconvenient. In 2013, the company launched but had to change the name to PayAngel 3 years later due to trademarking issues and as a way of connecting more with their target market. Ultimately, the goal of PayAngel is to simplify money transfer for Africans and cut down the costs involved. In 2005, Africa lost 2billion dollars to money transfer processing charges. And according to Jones, this money can be channelled into developmental activities on the continent.
Eventually , he hopes to make PayAngel the biggest cross border payment system in Africa. Already, they operate in North America, Europe and Africa with Ghana as the seat of operations
Giving advice to young people, Jones admonished that they stay focused on their goals, study, be consistent, discerning and believe in whatever it is that they’re going for.
