How Odunayo Eweniyi Built PiggyVest Into a Top African Savings Platform | USAEMALL.com

In Summary

• PiggyVest launched on 7 January 2016 (as Piggybank.ng) to digitise traditional “kolo”‑style savings. 
• By the end of 2024, PiggyVest had paid out over ₦2 trillion to users and ₦835 billion was disbursed in 2024 alone. 
• The platform served more than 5 million registered users by 2024. 
• In 2024 PiggyVest’s Assets Under Management grew by 76%, underlining rapid growth and increased user trust. 
• PiggyVest has expanded far beyond its original savings‑only product to offer investments, fixed/deposit‑saving plans, and a full digital savings & investment ecosystem. 

Deep Dive!!

Lagos, Nigeria, Monday, December 2nd – Odunayo Eweniyi recognized that many people struggled to save and turned this challenge into an opportunity, solving a problem often dismissed as “ordinary.”

While working on early ventures after university, she noticed that disciplined saving was rare, even among young professionals with steady incomes. She realized the challenge wasn’t a lack of willingness, but a lack of accessible, reliable tools.

In 2016, alongside her co-founders, Eweniyi turned that insight into Piggybank.ng, a platform designed to digitize the traditional “kolo” savings box. The goal was clear, to create a system that made saving automatic, secure, and transparent, allowing ordinary Africans to accumulate wealth without the friction of banks or complex processes. 

By 2019, the platform rebranded as PiggyVest and expanded to include investment products, fixed deposits, and goal-oriented savings plans. 

Beyond numbers, the platform changed the narrative around savings in Nigeria, showing that digital tools, combined with culturally resonant insights, could transform financial behavior.

PiggyVest exemplifies a new kind of African fintech success. A fintech built on observation, insight, and a deep understanding of local realities, not just technology. It is the product of a founder who recognized a simple truth and scaled it into a platform that empowers millions to save, invest, and plan for the future.

Early Life, Education, and Experience

Odunayo Eweniyi was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, into an academically oriented family. Both parents were university professors, providing a structured environment that emphasized discipline, analytical thinking, and high academic performance.

She completed a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering at Covenant University, graduating in 2013 with First Class Honours. In 2018, she earned a Full-Stack Web Development certificate from FreeCodeCamp to strengthen her technical software skills. In 2020, she enrolled in a Master’s program in Finance at SOAS University of London to develop expertise in financial systems and investment analysis.

Following graduation, Eweniyi evaluated early career opportunities but found the compensation and growth prospects insufficient. She then collaborated with university peers to pursue startup ventures. Initial projects included a discount-card platform that was unsuccessful, and a CV-writing and job-matching platform that evolved into PushCV.

Concurrently, Eweniyi gained professional experience in content creation and editorial roles for prominent African tech media outlets, including TechCabal, TechPoint Africa, and Zikoko. Revenue generated from these roles was reinvested into her startup activities, supporting operational continuity.

This combination of technical education, early entrepreneurial initiatives, and operational experience established the foundation for her co-founding of PiggyVest, providing her with the technical, strategic, and operational capabilities required to scale the platform into a leading digital savings and investment company in Africa.

Inspiration to Start PiggyVest

In December 2015, Odunayo Eweniyi and her co-founders observed a viral social media post showing a woman who had saved ₦1,000 daily in a wooden savings box (“kolo”) over one year, accumulating ₦365,000. This example highlighted the persistence of informal savings practices in Nigeria and the challenges individuals faced in saving consistently. 

Eweniyi explained the rationale in a 2019 interview -“The conversation… was around people also wanting to get their own wooden boxes so they could save like that. And we thought that that was at odds with the reality in Nigeria… So we started to think about how we can exploit this? And so we came up with the idea of creating an actual digital piggy bank.” 

The team identified a gap in the Nigerian financial landscape, many individuals wanted to save but lacked access to structured, reliable tools that supported regular saving. 

Piggybank.ng (later rebranded as PiggyVest in 2019) was designed to digitize informal savings habits, automate the saving process, and provide security for users’ funds. The objective was to create a platform that reflected local saving behaviors while offering financial discipline, accessibility, and transparency. 

By aligning the product design with observed user behaviors and financial needs, Eweniyi and her co-founders positioned PiggyVest as a solution that enabled consistent savings and laid the foundation for future digital financial products, including investment and fixed savings plans.

What Problem PiggyVest Solves

Many Nigerians, especially younger earners, struggle to save, invest, or build financial stability. Traditional banks often offer low interest rates, saving habits are inconsistent, and economic instability (inflation, unstable income) makes disciplined saving difficult. PiggyVest offers a suite of digital savings and investment tools that confront these structural weaknesses by offering accessible, flexible, and higher-yield alternatives.

1. Low interest rates and poor returns from traditional savings accounts – Traditional bank savings in Nigeria often yield negligible interest, making it hard for savers to grow their money meaningfully over time. PiggyVest offers savings and fixed‑deposit plans with significantly higher potential returns. On its platform, users can access savings plans that advertise interest rates in the range of 12 %–20 % per annum depending on the plan chosen.By offering competitive returns, PiggyVest makes savings more attractive and financially worthwhile for users who might otherwise leave money idle or in low-yield bank accounts.
2. Difficulty in saving consistently due to irregular income or lack of discipline – Many individuals find it difficult to save because they rely on leftover money after expenses or are tempted to spend as income arrives. PiggyVest’s automated savings features allow users to schedule daily, weekly, or monthly deposits removing the need for willpower alone. This automation helps build saving habits.
3. Lack of tailored savings and investment options for different financial goals – People often have multiple financial needs like emergency funds, school fees, rent, investments, etc. PiggyVest offers a variety of savings products (e.g. fixed‑savings “SafeLock,” goal‑oriented savings “Target Savings,” flexible savings “Flex Naira,” and even dollar‑savings plans) to match different needs and time horizons.By providing this flexibility, PiggyVest lets users compartmentalize their money according to priorities, a structured approach that many traditional savings methods lack.
4. Financial exclusion and limited access to reliable, regulated savings tools – For many Nigerians, especially younger or lower-income earners, formal banking may feel inaccessible, complicated, or not trustworthy. Digital savings platforms like PiggyVest offer a user-friendly, accessible alternative that runs on smartphones opening access to savings for a broader population. This aligns with wider fintech‑driven financial inclusion efforts in Nigeria.The platform also claims strong security protocols (256‑bit SSL encryption, regulated fund management) to build user confidence.
5. Need for financial resilience amid economic instability – With high inflation, volatile currency value, and uncertain income, many Nigerians struggle to maintain purchasing power or protect savings. Fixed savings, periodic returns, and even dollar‑denominated savings (Flex Dollar) give users tools to protect and grow their wealth against macroeconomic pressures.By providing steady saving and investment options, PiggyVest helps users create a financial buffer and long‑term savings plan, which is especially valuable in unstable economic conditions.
6. Lack of trust and security concerns with informal savings or cash‑based methods – Informal saving methods (cash, home savings boxes, informal schemes) carry risks like theft, loss, inflation erosion, and lack of accountability. PiggyVest offers a regulated, digital alternative with encryption and institutional oversight to reduce those risks.This contributes to building trust in digital finance solutions and encourages people who may have distrusted banks or informal savings systems to store their money securely.

Through competitive interest rates, flexible savings/investment products, automated savings plans, accessible digital delivery, and regulatory compliance, PiggyVest addresses several structural financial problems many Nigerians face. The platform not only lowers barriers to saving and investment, but it also reshapes saving behaviour offering a disciplined, secure, and adaptive alternative to traditional banking or informal savings.

Milestones Achieved to Date

Since its inception in January 2016 as Piggybank.ng, PiggyVest has recorded significant milestones in user adoption, payouts, assets under management, product diversification, and recognition. The platform began as a savings-only solution and evolved into a full financial-services ecosystem, reflecting both growth and strategic adaptation to the Nigerian and broader African financial landscape.

By April 2019, the company rebranded to PiggyVest, signaling an expansion from simple savings to include investment and wealth-management products. This transition allowed users to access fixed deposits, goal-based savings, and investment options diversifying both the platform’s offerings and revenue streams.

PiggyVest’s payout history demonstrates the platform’s scale and trust among users. By the end of 2022, PiggyVest had paid out over ₦1.1 trillion to its customers, with approximately ₦400 billion disbursed in 2022 alone. The platform continued this trajectory in 2024, paying out ₦835 billion in that year, pushing total cumulative payouts to more than ₦2 trillion since its launch.

User growth has mirrored the platform’s financial impact. By the end of 2024, PiggyVest served over 5 million users. During this period, users were saving and investing at a reported rate of approximately ₦44,000 per second, translating to an annualised savings volume of roughly ₦1.39 trillion. The platform’s assets under management also grew significantly, with a reported increase of 76% in 2024 alone, reflecting both rising user adoption and the accumulation of saved and invested funds.

In addition to financial growth, PiggyVest has diversified its product ecosystem. The platform now includes fixed-term deposits, goal-based savings, investment plans, and business-finance solutions, managed under its parent company, Piggytech Global Holdings. This expansion allows the company to serve both individual users and businesses, strengthening its role as a multi-dimensional financial platform.

Recognition has accompanied growth. PiggyVest was listed among the “Top 250 Global FinTech Companies” in 2024, underscoring its status as a leading African fintech. By October 2025, approaching its 10th anniversary, the company reported a user base of approximately 5.8 million, consolidating its position as a trusted and scalable digital financial platform.

These milestones collectively demonstrate PiggyVest’s strategic growth, resilience, and ability to meet structural financial needs in Nigeria. By combining high-yield savings, automated and goal-based plans, product diversification, and secure digital infrastructure, the platform has scaled both users and financial flows substantially. It has also reinforced financial discipline and inclusion, positioning PiggyVest as a benchmark for fintech solutions across Africa.

Lessons for Other African Entrepreneurs

PiggyVest’s growth journey offers practical insights for African entrepreneurs seeking to scale businesses in emerging markets. The platform’s expansion from a simple savings app to a multi-million-user financial ecosystem demonstrates the importance of aligning product development with real financial needs, maintaining operational discipline, and leveraging both technology and trust. Several lessons emerge from PiggyVest’s trajectory that can guide entrepreneurs across Africa.

1. Address a tangible problem with measurable impact – PiggyVest identified the widespread challenge of inconsistent savings and low financial inclusion. By digitizing traditional “kolo” savings habits and automating deposits, the platform directly solved a verified pain point, leading to over ₦2 trillion in cumulative payouts and 5 million users by 2024.
2. Scale gradually while maintaining trust – The combination of high-yield savings, secure digital infrastructure, and regulatory compliance built credibility. Entrepreneurs should prioritize trust, especially in financial services, before aggressively scaling. PiggyVest’s PCI-compliant platform reassured users and drove adoption.
3. Leverage automation to improve user habits – Automated daily, weekly, or monthly savings allowed users to develop consistent financial habits without relying solely on discipline. This approach helped PiggyVest users save an estimated ₦1.39 trillion annually by 2024, demonstrating the value of embedding user behavior into product design.
4. Diversify products strategically – PiggyVest expanded from savings-only to investments, fixed-term deposits, and business-finance solutions. Strategic diversification reduced reliance on a single revenue stream and expanded market relevance, offering lessons on gradual ecosystem growth while retaining focus on core user needs.
5. Data-driven decision-making fuels growth – Monitoring user behavior, savings patterns, and financial flows allowed PiggyVest to optimize offerings, introduce new products, and predict trends. For entrepreneurs, leveraging operational and market data can guide product enhancements and investment decisions.
6. Adapt to macroeconomic realities – Nigeria’s economic volatility, inflation, and currency fluctuations posed risks to savings and investment. PiggyVest responded by offering diverse saving and investment options, including fixed-term and dollar-denominated plans, demonstrating the importance of resilience and adaptability in uncertain markets.
7. Strategic partnerships and investor alignment matter – Early and continued funding, along with partnerships for product expansion and ecosystem building, allowed PiggyVest to scale infrastructure, technology, and marketing effectively. Entrepreneurs should ensure that investors and partners share the long-term vision to avoid misalignment during critical growth phases.

Through these lessons, PiggyVest illustrates how disciplined execution, a clear understanding of customer needs, technological innovation, and operational resilience can transform a simple concept into a continent-wide impact. African entrepreneurs can draw from this example to create scalable solutions that are both financially sustainable and socially meaningful, ultimately building enterprises that serve millions and create systemic value across markets.

PiggyVest’s journey demonstrates how identifying a clear financial need, building trust through secure and user-friendly technology, and evolving products in response to real-world challenges can transform a simple idea into a pan-African financial platform. Beyond savings and investments, its growth reflects disciplined execution, strategic diversification, and the ability to adapt to economic realities lessons that resonate across the continent’s entrepreneurial landscape. Looking forward, PiggyVest is positioned not only to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria but also to influence broader African markets, showing that scalable, data-driven fintech solutions can redefine how millions of people manage, grow, and secure their wealth.