Piggyvest, one of Nigeria’s leading savings and investment platforms, has unveiled an ambitious plan to become the “financial operating system of the Nigerian household,” as it marked its 10th anniversary with a gala in Victoria Island, Lagos.
The milestone event brought together co-founders, investors, regulators, ecosystem leaders, customers, and members of the media, highlighting the company’s journey from its 2016 origins as Piggybank.ng is now a fintech platform that serves over six million users and facilitates more than N3 trillion in savings and investments.
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Structured as a narrative evening across three acts: reflection, trust, and vision, the gala blended storytelling, data, and entertainment to illustrate Piggyvest’s evolution and its growing influence on Nigerians’ financial behaviour.
A key highlight of the evening was a data-driven presentation by Joshua Chibueze, co-founder and chief marketing officer, who framed Piggyvest’s growth as part of a broader cultural shift toward disciplined savings in Nigeria.
According to him, the platform now processes over N61,000 in savings every second, up from N49,000 a year earlier, with users saving toward diverse goals, including rent, travel, business investments, and gadgets.
He also pointed to behavioural milestones such as a user saving daily for 522 consecutive days—as evidence of deepening financial discipline among Nigerians.
“When you step back, this is what you’re really looking at: millions of people choosing discipline over and over again,” Chibueze said.
The role of regulation in shaping Piggyvest’s trajectory also featured prominently during the event. Ayo Akinola, CEO of PocketApp, acknowledged the contributions of regulatory institutions, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In a presentation titled “Trust is Built Together,” Akinola said regulatory scrutiny, though often challenging, strengthened the platform’s resilience and credibility.
“Some of our toughest moments came from being held to higher standards,” he said. “Moments that slowed us down, moments that forced us to rethink. But those moments made us better. They made us stronger, they made us worthy of the trust people place in us today.”
The centrepiece of the evening was a keynote address by Odunayo Eweniyi, co-founder and chief operations officer, who traced the company’s origin to a December 2015 tweet by a woman who saved N1,000 daily in a wooden box and shared her progress online.
“That was the whole idea. Right there. We just needed to build the environment for it,” she said.
Reflecting on the early days, Eweniyi noted the challenge of earning trust in a country where financial confidence has often been undermined by failed institutions and schemes.
“They said yes in 2016 when we were unknown. They said yes through a pandemic, devaluations, inflation, and the kind of economic turbulence that makes people hold their money tightly,” she said.
Looking ahead, she outlined Piggyvest’s next phase: building a comprehensive financial ecosystem for households. The strategy is anchored on five pillars—expanding access to ownership opportunities, integrating savings with everyday banking, offering financial protection through insurance and retirement products, extending services to Nigerians in the diaspora, and creating infrastructure for other players to build on.
“An operating system doesn’t do everything,” Eweniyi explained. “But it makes all of those things possible. That’s what we want to be for the financial lives of the people who trust us.”
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The event also featured a preview of an upcoming Piggyvest documentary exploring modern Nigerian money culture, alongside a moderated conversation with co-founders Somto Ifezue (CEO), Odunayo Eweniyi (COO), and Joshua Chibueze (CMO), led by Chinasa Anukam.
A second panel session, “The Last Decade (In People),” moderated by Oscar Oyinsan, brought together Piggyvest alumni to reflect on the company’s culture and the people behind its growth.
The evening concluded with a closing address by CEO Somto Ifezue, followed by a ceremonial toast featuring all seven co-founders alongside early investors and ecosystem leaders, including Olumide Soyombo of Bluechip Technologies and Voltron Capital, and Kola Aina of Ventures Platform.