PiggyVest founders selected to join Endeavor’s Global Network of High-Impact Entrepreneurs
Fast-growing savings and investment platform in Nigeria join the leading global high-impact entrepreneur network
Lagos, 27 June 2022 — Endeavor announced today that Somto Ifezue, Odunayo Eweniyi, and Joshua Chibueze, co-founders of PiggyVest were selected as Endeavor Entrepreneurs at the 28th Virtual International Selection Panel (vISP) held Tuesday, June 22nd, 2022.
The ISP is the culmination of a rigorous multi-step selection process to identify high-impact entrepreneurs who demonstrate the potential to leverage Endeavor’s resources and mentorship to create large-scale wealth and jobs and are committed to reinvesting their time and resources in their local entrepreneurship ecosystems to help others take off.
Founded in 2016, PiggyVest is a financial services platform that provides its predominantly Millennial and Gen Z users across Nigeria with access to savings and investment products that drive wealth creation and preservation.
L-R: Somto Ifezue, Odunayo Eweniyi, and Joshua Chibuez
Tosin Faniro-Dada, the Managing Director and CEO of Endeavor in Nigeria, said, “We are very excited about Piggyvest, Somto, Odun, and Josh who are such strong role models for entrepreneurs in Africa. We’re all proud to be on the journey with them, supporting the growth and mission of the PiggyVest team to democratize and simplify financial services for the next generation and becoming the dominant savings and investment platform across the African continent and other emerging markets.”
Somto, Odun, and Joshua are serial entrepreneurs with diverse expertise that are critical and have definitely contributed to the impact and success of PiggyVest so far. We believe that it’s perfect timing for the founders to be joining our global network.” she said.
Speaking about the value of joining the Endeavor network, Somto Ifezue, co-founder, CEO, and Lead Product Engineer of PiggyVest said, “The commitment of Endeavor to its entrepreneurs and their vision was very palpable through the journey from meeting them the first time and through all the stages. Endeavor, for us, is a platform that will help accelerate our growth and our reach as we continue to work to help more people achieve financial freedom.”
Odunayo Eweniyi, co-founder/COO added, “We’re so happy to be joining the Endeavor network. Community is important on the entrepreneurial journey, and there’s no bigger community than Endeavor. We know that having access to a global community of entrepreneurs, investors and partners is going to prove very valuable to us, and we hope to be able to add as much value to it as we know we will get.”
Speaking on their selection experience, Joshua Chibueze, Co-founder/Chief Marketing Officer said, “Going through the [selection] process, we met people who asked us thoughtful questions and gave us thoughtful feedback. As people whose job is to build based on those, that was exciting and validating. We’re looking forward to all the ways Endeavor can help us shape PiggyVest into the world-class company we know it can be while giving back to the community.”
Somto Ifezue, Odunayo Eweniyi, and Joshua Chibueze were selected into the Endeavor network by a panel of global business leaders including Susan Saideman, Mario Mello, Roshini Bakshi, Matt Tucker, Luis Lora, and Alejandro Artacho.
As part of Endeavor’s network, the newly selected entrepreneurs will gain access to comprehensive, strategic, global support services, including introductions to local and international business mentors, investors, and volunteers from Fortune 500 consulting firms who will help them address key needs.
Endeavor Entrepreneurs have had a significant track record of impact. Endeavor Entrepreneurs have created more than 3.9 million jobs, generate combined revenues of over $28B, and help build sustainable growth models in their home countries.
PiggyVest is the 16th company selected into the global Endeavor network through the regional affiliated office in Nigeria. All three entrepreneurs represent the growing expectation for exceptional entrepreneurs with big ambitions and the ability to execute at scale. They join Gbenga Agboola & Ife Orioke (Flutterwave), Ngozi Dozie & Chijioke Dozie (Carbon), Etop Ikpe (Autochek), Abasi Ene-Obong (54gene), Tayo Oviosu & Jay Alabraba (Paga), Ekechi Nwokah (Migo), Jasper Graf von Hardenberg & Christian Wessels (Daystar Power), Bukky George (HealthPlus), Obi Ozor & Ife Oyedele (Kobo360), Kene Okwuosa & Moses Babatope (FilmHouse Group), Onyekachi Izukanne, Michael Ukpong & Ruke Awaritefe (TradeDepot), Tosin Eniolorunda & Felix Ike (TeamApt), Adegoke Olubusi, Tito Ovia, and Dimeji Sofowora (Helium Health), and Adetayo Bamiduro, Chinedu Azodoh, Guy-Bertrand Njoya (Metro Africa Xpress), and Michael Moreland, Justin Lorenzon, & Peter Bunor (Field Intelligence).
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About Endeavor
Endeavor is the world’s leading community of high-impact entrepreneurs. Founded in 1997, Endeavor is a global organization with a mission to unlock the transformational power of entrepreneurship by selecting, supporting, and investing in the world’s top founders. Today, Endeavor’s network spans nearly 40 markets and supports more than 2,300 entrepreneurs, whose companies generate combined revenues of over
$42 billion US, and have created more than 3.9 million jobs. Endeavor’s unique entrepreneur-first model and network of trust provide a platform for founders to dream big, scale up, and pay it forward to the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Endeavor launched its Nigeria office in 2018 to select and support the best founders of companies at the scale-up and growth stage, who recognise a responsibility to pay it forward and multiply their impact in Nigeria’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. In Nigeria, Endeavor aims to select 4-6 companies a year and today there are 33 Endeavor Entrepreneurs leading 16 companies in their portfolio.
Learn more about Endeavor in Nigeria: www.endeavornigeria.org
Learn about Endeavor’s global network: www.endeavor.org
About PiggyVest
Launched as “Piggybank.ng” in 2016, PiggyVest is the first online “Savings & Investment” app in West Africa.
For 3 years, PiggyVest offered only savings to users then rebranded to “PiggyVest” and began offering direct investment opportunities to users in addition to savings.
5 years on, PiggyVest have continued to deliver excellent service to 1,000,000 users and counting, helping them manage their finances with simplicity and transparency. Combined, PiggyVest users save & invest billions of Naira every month that they would have instead spent.
PiggyVest is on a mission ‘to give everyone the power to better manage & grow their finances’, and we intend to be the best at this.
Press Contact
Endeavor Nigeria
Joy Mabia | joy.mabia@endeavor.org | 08035886263
ABOUT THE FOUNDERS
Somto Ifezue
Somto Ifezue is the co-founder, CEO, and Lead Product Engineer at PiggyVest, the largest consumer fintech company with over 3.8m registered users operating in Nigeria since 2016.
Before PiggyVest, he had co-founded several startups including Push CV – one of the foremost job sites in Africa with the largest database of pre-screened candidates.
Somto has over 12 years of experience building software and retail tech products tailored for the Nigerian market.
In 2019, Somto was listed on Forbes 30under30, right after PiggyVest won the Future Awards Africa Prize for Technology in 2018.
Odunayo Eweniyi
Odunayo Eweniyi is the co-founder & Chief Operations Officer, PiggyVest, the largest digital savings and micro-investment platform in Nigeria. She previously co-founded pushcv.com, one of the foremost job sites in Africa with the largest database of pre-screened candidates.
She has 8 years of experience in Business Analysis and Operations. She’s an award-winning fintech entrepreneur who is working for diversity equity and inclusion in fintech and technology as a whole.
As the COO of PiggyVest, she oversees the company’s entire operation which cuts across Finance, Investment Management, People Operations, Investor relations, Fundraising, and related subcategories.
In January 2021, Odunayo co-founded FirstCheck Africa, a female-led angel fund that invests “ridiculously early” in women in African tech to make it easier for them to raise venture-backed capital and invest in technology startups.
She is a board member at Village Capital, the most active supporter of impact-driven, seed-stage entrepreneurs in the world. She was featured on Bloomberg Business Weekly’s 2020 Bloomberg50 list, an annual list of innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders who have changed the global business landscape over the past year. She is also a 2021 TIME100 Next honoree. She was named one of Forbes Africa’s 30 under 30 Technology in 2019 and one of 30 Quartz Africa Innovators in 2019.
Joshua Chibueze
Joshua is the co-founder/Chief marketing officer for PiggyVest – the leading digital savings & investment platform in Nigeria with over 3.8M registered users nationwide and has existed for more than 6 years.
Joshua, a graduate of Covenant University was listed as one of the beneficiaries of the Forbes 30under30 2019.
Joshua is a brand marketing expert and a customer success enthusiast with over 10 years of industry experience working for multinationals, SMEs, and several startups.