Odun Eweniyi (COO & Co-Founder at PiggyVest) joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss how she's revolutionizing the savings & investments culture amongst young Nigerians. She is also a Forbes Africa 30 under 30 Technology Pioneer awardee.

Based in Nigeria, PiggyVest is West Africa's first digital savings and micro-investment app with a focus on restoring trust and democratising financial services for Gen Zs & millennials. They've built a strong customer base of over 3.5 million users since launching in 2016 and in 2021 alone, the platform paid out over $582 million to its users. PiggyVest's growth is also especially impressive when you consider its last fundraise was a $1.1mn seed round in 2018.

Why do savings & investments in Nigeria need change? There are very few countries in the world where savings are more of a necessity than Nigeria. Due to the severe lack of credit options, Nigerians are well-accustomed to paying for goods and services upfront, forcing them to rely heavily on their savings. However, with excessive bank charges and poor interest rates further eroded by high inflation, they are heavily disincentivized to save with traditional financial institutions, which often leave them with less money than their original deposits.

Equally, the barriers to boosting wealth creation through investments are just as daunting. The average entry point to invest with formal financial institutions stands at 10,000 Naira, which is 8% of the average Nigerian's annual income. We discuss how technology is restoring trust and democratizing financial services for Gen Zs & millennials in Nigeria. I also learn more about how technology and innovation is sweeping across Africa.