Founder Stories

 At the start of every year, millions of Nigerians open a notes app and write the same promise: I will save more. By February, reality intervenes – rent is due, transport costs spike, family needs appear unannounced. Saving becomes aspirational rather than practical. Odunayo Eweniyi built her career by refusing to ignore that reality. As co‑founder and Chief Operations Officer of PiggyVest, Nigeria’s largest digital savings platform, Eweniyi helped turn saving money from a good intention into a repeatable habit for more than six million users. Not by moralising discipline—but by designing for how Nigerians actually live, earn, and spend. However, PiggyVest grew by treating that reality as the starting point, not an excuse. And at the centre of that work is Odunayo Eweniyi, co-founder and Chief Operations Officer, one of the operators who helped turn saving money from a wish into a routine many nigerians can actually keep. A Familiar Idea, Executed Relentlessly PiggyVest’s origin story is notably unglamorous and that is precisely its advantage. Launched in January 2016 as Piggybank.ng, the company started with a single focus: savings. Investments came later, after a rebrand to PiggyVest in 2019. The sequencing mattered. While many fintechs raced to expand product suites, PiggyVest chose depth before breadth. The core insight was simple: Nigerians already save. They just do it informally—through kolo, rotating savings groups, and self-imposed restrictions. PiggyVest didn’t attempt to replace those habits. It digitised them, added structure, and removed friction. That restraint reflects Eweniyi’s operational philosophy: innovation works best when it feels familiar. When Operations Become the Product In fintech, trust is not a slogan, it is an outcome. And outcomes are operational. As COO, Eweniyi sits at the fault line where ambition meets execution: delayed withdrawals, support backlogs, policy breakdowns. These are not theoretical risks; they are existential ones. A savings platform does not get second chances. PiggyVest’s early identity was built around consistency. Users could save daily, weekly, or monthly, mirroring irregular income patterns. But convincing someone to save is only the beginning. Once you accept their money, you inherit a promise: it must be secure, accurately tracked, and accessible when expected every time. That promise is operational, not marketing-led. Under Eweniyi’s stewardship, PiggyVest focused less on hype and more on reliability, gradually converting trust into routine. Quiet Capital, Clear Signals PiggyVest’s funding history mirrors its strategy. In 2018, the company raised $1.1 million, led by LeadPath Nigeria, with participation from Village Capital and Ventures Platform. It was not a headline-grabbing round, but it sent a clear signal. At the time, PiggyVest was still early, still focused, still committed to a single behavioural shift: helping people save consistently. Growth would come later. In a market that often rewards noise, PiggyVest chose iteration. When the Numbers Speak for Themselves Today, PiggyVest no longer needs to explain its relevance. In 2025, the company reported ₦1.3 trillion paid out to users, a 56% increase from ₦835 billion in 2024. Its user base crossed six million. These are not vanity metrics; they represent repeated financial behaviour at national scale. People download apps out of curiosity. They only trust them with money over years if the system works. Crucially, PiggyVest reached this scale without trying to be everything at once. Savings came first. Investments followed only after trust was established. Designing for Real Life, Not Ideal Users Much of consumer fintech assumes tidy financial lives—predictable income, stable expenses, surplus cash. Nigeria rarely offers such conditions. PiggyVest’s product logic reflects lived experience: small amounts, automation, intentional friction against impulsive withdrawals, and group-based structures that resemble offline savings circles. Informal systems are not alternatives to banking in Nigeria, they are the system. PiggyVest’s innovation was not disruption for its own sake, but better rails for behaviour people already trusted. Building Beyond the Balance Sheet Eweniyi’s influence extends beyond PiggyVest. She is also a co‑founder and general partner at FirstCheck Africa, an early-stage investment platform backing startups founded or co‑founded by women. The move is less about branding than ecosystem correction. In African tech, access to early capital remains uneven. Writing the first cheque often determines who gets to compete. By shifting from founder to early investor, Eweniyi is helping reshape participation, not just outcomes. The Power of Boring Done Well African fintech has no shortage of ambition. What it lacks are enough builders who win by making discipline feel achievable for millions. Eweniyi is not a loud symbol or a motivational trope. Her work is quieter and more durable. She represents a class of African founders who understand that the most transformative products are often the least glamorous: systems that hold, routines that repeat, and trust that compounds. In a market obsessed with speed, Odunayo Eweniyi built endurance.