Working. Saving. Investing. with Odunayo Eweniyi

Odunayo Eweniyi is the co-founder & Chief Operations Officer, PiggyVest. She previously co-founded pushcv.com, one of the largest job sites in Africa with the largest database of pre-screened candidates. She has 5 years’ experience in Business Analysis and Operations and is a First-Class Graduate of Computer Engineering, Covenant University, Nigeria.

She was one of Business Day’s Spark 2019 Women to Watch and made the World Women in Fintech Power List for 2017; the YNaija Most Influential People in Technology 2017 and 2018 and she is a 2018 Westerwelle Young Entrepreneurs fellow. In honour of her work, she was named one of 100 most inspiring women in Nigeria 2019 by Leading Ladies Africa, one of 50 most visible women in Tech by Tech Cabal in 2019 and the youngest Nigerian on Forbes Africa list of 20 New Wealth Creators in Africa.

She works to support the inclusion of women in technology by working with hubs and female-focused networks like For Creative Girls, GreenHouse Labs, She Leads Africa, Itanna, etc.

Below is the Summary of the Interview Working. Saving. Investing. with Odunayo Eweniyi

She was of the opinion that every individual needed to save money because nobody was going to do it for them as the present state of the economy also called for that. Even as it is important to be able to avoid accumulating debts, she advised that people make a practice of putting some amount aside anytime they get paid.

She spoke on the need for people to have financial education especially young people around the issues of finance, saving, investing as well as budgeting. She gave credence to technology as a tool that can be used in automating such financial processes. Saying that with existing online platforms, one could save seamlessly.

Speaking on the right time to invest she said that individuals could invest any time as it is important that their money works for them adding that they should ensure to also diversify their portfolio when investing. She said that one could recognize a good investment if the returns are higher than the inflation rate at the time. She motioned on people to take the opportunity to register now even as the Nigerian Economy is not stable.

When investing she advised that people should carry out their research and play based on their risk appetite i.e. the amount of risk, they are willing to take, the interest rate and where they are most comfortable. She revealed that she often had the habit of planning for two days upon receiving money, this she said was important as a lot of people did not have a healthy relationship with money being that money was only a tool. She went further to say that she makes sure not to spend money that she has not yet seen or acquired yet.

Speaking about partnerships around their online platform she said that there are always a lot of conversations around every feature they released so as to serve their customers better. She went on to say that their users often appreciated these features as they made sure to always build their products around their customers even as it has helped them stand out over the long run.

Listing some of the lessons she had learned as a tech founder, she said that she had come to know when to put a business idea to rest, to understand that formal education could not prepare one for business and has come to see the internet as a very useful tool in learning.

On paying debts versus saving, she said that priority should be placed on both as she often referred to the 50-30-20 principle. She advised on people using 50% of their earnings for personal needs, 20% for savings and investments, then 30% for their wants and paying their debts. She reiterated on the need for people to develop healthy spending habits and to always learn to also say no to impulsive spending.