Saving Nigeria, the Piggyvest Way

On the last day of 2015, a Nigerian woman posted a tweet that quickly went viral. She had saved ₦1,000 every day that year in a kolo—the much less glamorous Nigerian version of a piggybank—accumulating ₦365,000 (about $1,800 at the time). Telling me this story, Joshua ‘Josh’ Chibueze, who would go on to become a co-founder and the chief marketing officer of Piggyvest, didn’t just admire her discipline; he spotted an opportunity. Young Nigerians were clearly struggling with savings, turning to wooden boxes instead of financial institutions, and here was a habit that could be digitized.

On 1 January 2016, Chibueze tweeted, ‘It's only natural to think about an online solution for this piggybank idea, but then you have to really understand how Nigerians think.’ In response, his soon-to-be co-founder, Odunayo ‘Odun’ Eweniyi suggested that the idea could take the shape of an e-wallet. The discussion shifted offline, where it expanded to include five other members of the would-be Piggyvest founding team: Somtochukwu ‘Somto’ Ifezue, Ayo Akinola, Ibukun Akinola, Terry Kanu, and Nonso Eagle. One key realization fuelled the team's decision to go ahead with creating the product: Nigerians purchased kolos, only to break them when they needed to retrieve their funds. This meant that Nigerians were willing to spend to save, and the idea of charging a breaking fee for withdrawals outside of set dates could work, thus rendering the idea a profitable one.