MyPiggyvest is a monthly Piggyvest series that focuses on the stories of real Piggyvest users, learning how Piggyvest has changed their lives and their first major accomplishments using the savings platform.
Like most Piggyvest users, Ezinne Okwu, a baker based in Enugu really needed a way to structure her finances. She was a self-employed baker who started baking in 2012, while she was still in university as a side hustle, originally baking for friends and family. But as she got better at baking and started to amass a customer base, she realised she was struggling to structure her finances and become financially independent.
She initially discovered Piggyvest through Twitter and used the app occasionally, but eventually lost access to her account. However, after having a child, she was determined to take her business seriously. She wanted to grow her business to better provide for her family and be prepared for the expenses that came with parenting as an entrepreneur without a steady income. “My business kicked off properly in 2017 and I had a child in the picture, I had no option but to find a way to structure my finances so I wouldn’t end up stranded,” she said.
She opened a new Piggyvest account, followed the prompts, and discovered Piggyvest’s Target Savings. Target Savings was perfect for her needs because it allowed her to identify her goals and set targets towards those goals. It also made it easier for her to redirect revenue from payments for her cake business directly towards her goals.
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One of the challenges Ezinne wanted to solve with Piggyvest was figuring out how to pay herself a monthly salary. Before using the app, she struggled to separate her business income and profits from her personal expenses—an issue many small businesses face. To solve this, Ezinne first calculated her business’s monthly recurring expenses and set that amount aside from the income she received from bulk orders. She then uses the Piggyvest Target Savings feature to manage the remaining income for the rest of the month.
When she receives income from bulk orders, she subtracts her recurring expenses and deposits what’s left into her Flex Naira account. Ezinne identifies her major expenses and financial goals and creates separate target savings plans for each. Using her Flex account or direct deposits, she works toward meeting these targets each month.
“I don’t like making bulk payments,” she said. “When I have to make bulk payments out of the blue, I run away, but Target Savings helps me break down the payments over a longer period and helps me save more efficiently for those bulk payments. I used to use Target Savings to pay for my rent, but now that Piggyvest has introduced House Money, it has made things even easier.”
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Target Savings is Ezinne’s favourite feature on the Piggyvest platform because she can save alone and save with friends. “I belong to the Pages by Dami Community and we have a Piggvest Target Savings challenge on the Piggyvest App. All of us members are registered for the challenge. We have people who save daily, weekly or monthly, depending on what they can afford.”
She really enjoys the public Target Savings feature that allows users on the app to form independent savings challenges and motivate each other to meet their goals. She loves the sense of community it fosters for her group and finds it a healthy way to get others involved. The Target Savings group she belongs to has saving tiers where each member is encouraged to save to meet or exceed their target, with incentives for the most consistent saver and the highest saver at the end of the year.
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She admits that it wasn’t the interest that drew her to Piggyvest. She thinks the interest is important and enjoys getting returns on her savings, but the primary reason she uses the app is how Piggyvest has helped her improve her relationship with money and structure her business. She also really enjoys using the Piggyvest Flex Naira Account because of its labels feature which allows her to further segment her savings and track her minor expenses like utilities, emergency funds, and expenses for her child.
Ezinne has helped many of her friends and family members figure out their finances using the Piggyvest app, and she loves that none of the people she has referred have had any problems. Even when she experiences minor issues, she loves how promptly the Piggyvest customer care team attends to her problems and resolves them. She is excited to see what the future holds for her business and the new features Piggyvest will introduce to make savings even easier.
“I call myself a Piggyvest baby because I love the app so much,” Ezinne added.
