6 Digital Saving Platforms that Foster Financial Freedom in Nigeria

Every child bred in Nigeria in the last decade should be familiar with a traditional mode of saving called Kolo in Western Nigerian Language, Yoruba.

However, with maturity and exposure came the realization that it could also be regarded as Piggy Bank. This method of saving has always been way before banking system became in vogue and there seemed to be some shift on how people save money, especially the low & middle income earners.

Kolo is a square-shaped wooden box although fancier now, with a thin opening for squeezing in Naira notes. It is often broken after a designated saving term to meet a certain budget or need peculiar to the saver.
The world has however evolved into a digital ecosystem and like every other thing, some developers have expectedly piggybacked on the shift, creating several initiatives to foster Saving culture and drive financial inclusion in the society.

These inventions otherwise called Financial Planning tools are proven patrons to foster poverty reduction and bridge the poverty gap. Not everyone has the strong suit to save as some tussle vices like the inability to delay gratification, impulse buying, and basically unplanned expenses that pose as a threat to the budget for other important targets or needs. Over time, the undermentioned initiatives to help remediate personal saving deficiency have proven to be a one-way ticket to financial freedom.

Though after the ordeal of Nigerians from popular Ponzi Schemes in 2016, it has become necessary to thoroughly scrutinize the authenticity of any financial technology solution before putting them out to the public. Hence, you’re guaranteed this compilation underwent thorough perusal before bringing them forth, while you carefully make your pick using your discretion.

1) PiggyBank.ng:

Now called PiggyVest, is arguably the most popular and critically acclaimed digital Saving box and Fintech platform presently. It is notorious for it’s adherent debiting ethic that is likely to make even you the saver wince. It helps shred whatever possible excuse on why you won’t save as it religiously debits your bank account in tune of the amount and time interval you must’ve chosen while setting up your account for that saving term.
The funds are warehoused and monitored by their partner United Bank for Africa, UBA.

Piggy Bank gives you 6% annual interest on automated saving, 12% per annum with a fixed deposit and 1.5% quarterly. It’s an extension of a saving account with UBA. However, you can’t save less than N1000 weekly and N5000 monthly.

2) Cowry Wise:

This FINTECH platform is profiled as one of the “50 World-Changing Startups to Watch in 2019”. Cowry Wise is a personal finance platform that automates your savings and debits your bank account in tune to a preset option. Your saved up cash also generates interests over a period of time.
It moves to alleviate Nigeria’s bad saving culture by making it easy and possible to save money, no matter how little. It offers three 3 saving options: Periodic, Fixed and One Time Savings. Interest rate range from 10% -17%. It also lets its customers withdraw cash immediately. It has an interactive chatbot on Facebook called Sisi to help navigate the platform.

3) KoloPay:

KoloPay is a mobile/web application that helps save money in bits ahead of planned goals periodically. It is coined from the popular ‘Kolo’ and helps you save religiously if financial discipline is not your forte. The app has two saving options viz Easy Save & Auto Save. Easy Save enables you to save any amount at anytime while Auto Save enables you save either daily, weekly or monthly.
You can get started by creating your first saving plan with the name of your goal, how much you want to save then set the withdrawal date.
You’re required to link your debit card to your saving plan and at the end of each saving term, you can enjoy 6% interest as incentive on what you have saved.

4) Esusu:

This app is the digital replica of traditional thrift collection popularly called “Ajo”. You get to save with friends or family and withdraw in turns after few months. It has a value of letting people keep you accountable.
Due to the personal struggle of some to meet their saving and personal finance goal. Esusu builds the accountability, community and system you need to save more. A group of individuals contribute money and each individual takes the contribution at each turn and it continues in that circle. There’s bonus for reference to each member.

5) ALAT:

The WEMA Bank-owned FINTECH company boasts as Nigeria’s First Digital Bank, having launched in May 2017. It enables you set a saving Goal and after which you earn 10% interest of the amount saved per annum.

It also gifts N10000 to users who get 10 friends to register and deposit at least a token of N500 each. You get issued a debit card like you do with a regular bank, though you can forgo the option till you’re fully familiar with he saving habit.
The Wema Bank’s hugely popular banking app has however been raking series of underwhelming reviews about it’s service for some time now.

6) Reach:

Reach offers a community-oriented space to keep savers on their toes. Saving is done with a group of people with a common objective – to save money. Hence, participants of the said group can monitor each other’s progress, thereby fostering healthy financial competition to out-save your confederate. Reach also has a chatbot called Kudi that helps users maneuver the saving process on the platform.