How investment and savings platform PiggyVest is changing Nigeria’s youth culture

With around 3.7 million users, PiggyVest is a platform that makes it easier for the average Nigerian to save and invest. According to COO and co-founder Odun Eweniyi, PiggyVest allows people to automate their savings so they can achieve big ambitions like buying a car, funding a goal to continue studying or starting a business. Here, she talks about why she and her co-founders wanted to create a platform that democratises saving and investing to better equip Nigeria’s younger generations for the future.

CIO Africa: What are some of the growth trends around investment and savings culture in Nigeria, and understanding of it, particularly among young people?

Odun Eweniyi: Quite a bit of progress has been made in this space since we started PiggyVest six years ago. Nigeria and much of Africa has a savings rate of around 15%. This is really low. But given the proliferation of fintech companies that are opening up access to this space, we can see that the savings rate has actually increased, specifically among young people. Before now, Nigerians would need to have about US$2,000 to take advantage of the most basic investment opportunities. But technology has largely democratised this by allowing people to invest with as little as 20 cents. This means that more people can have access and participate.

Who is your target market?

I don’t think digital innovations should only be developed as solutions to the problems faced by the unbanked. There are groups of people who are considered to be ‘included’ but who aren’t really included because their level of digital literacy and their levels of access aren’t where they should be. This is why I think it’s important to solve this for people who might appear to be included but who don’t know as much or have as much as others. Right now we’re targeting young people with smartphones. For us, this mobile population was the low hanging fruit because they already have bank accounts and they have some financial literacy. We could easily adapt and tailor our products to complement what they’re already using. And as smartphones get cheaper, the market expands, which means that more young people will have access to a device they can use to save for their future.

Tell us about PiggyVest. How does it differ from other fintechs out there?

Financial Services Industry, Fintech, Startups