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.
Isaac Muokwe, a businessman and the owner of CityMonk Clothings, was raised in a middle-class family where building a culture of saving was never a priority. He could always ask his parents or family members for anything he needed, after all. But adulthood came with needs too personal to disclose to immediate family, and he started to see the value of having emergency funds. So he began dropshipping at the university to make some extra money. He also attempted to remedy his poor saving habits by making his younger brother, a more disciplined saver, his personal piggybank.
The downside, which he quickly found out, was that this method had no enforceable restrictions, so he could take his money back just as easily as he handed it over. At the end of the day, he always found himself back at square one.
Then, in 2019, Isaac learned about PiggyVest from his sister. When he found the app, he only wanted to improve his bad saving habits and enjoy the referral bonuses. He did not expect that simply using the daily Autosave feature would help him achieve serious goals. With time, casual, scheduled savings on PiggyVest unexpectedly grew to become a solid backup plan. He could restock goods in his store, and soon, he was toying with a new dream: buying a car.
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“The first major goal I accomplished was changing the old Camry I had purchased during my dropshipping years,” Isaac said. “ After I started my clothing business as a graduate, my cash flow slowed down, and for a while I hadn’t earned a lump sum like I used to when I was a drop shipper. I was stuck with an old, faulty car that was more of a liability than anything else. This was when I decided to give PiggyVest a real chance. When I started saving for my car in 2021, I not only found out that I had lots of interest accumulated from my few years of having the app, but it also took no more than five months to save up for a new car.”
While the goal of buying a car may have been easier to achieve than Isaac initially thought, he is also no stranger to parting with some of his dreams in order to make room for new ones. As a bright-eyed Computer Science undergrad at Yabatech, he dreamt of becoming a tech guru. But years as a drop shipper unlocked a propensity for entrepreneurship he never knew existed. What started as a means to make some extra income became the source of capital for his new venture: a clothing business. Right after school in 2008, Isaac took the money he had made and rented himself a shop at Mandilas. And that’s how CityMonk clothing was born.
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“When I started my business in 2009, my goal was just to put food on the table,” Isaac recounted. “After spending some time on the island and seeing the competition there, I realised there was more to achieve and my goals needed to evolve. I needed to put a roof over my head and care for my future family. And by God’s grace, I’m closer to where I want to be.”
Things took a wholesome turn for Isaac in 2022 when he met a customer who would later become his wife. Their seemingly fated romance took on a life of its own after they exchanged contacts. Scrolling through WhatsApp and seeing her status updates, he became enamoured by her beauty and couldn’t get her out of his head. So he decided to shoot his shot. A year later, they were married, and now they have a beautiful son.
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“Last year, I set a new target for myself: buy my wife a car,” Isaac revealed. “Having this new goal meant I needed to go out of my way to save. I was used to the Autosave feature, but I was on a mission to meet my deadline, and that was how QuickSave became my new favourite feature. My daily savings were ₦30,000, but I also started actively setting money aside whenever I had large chunks, like after clearing some goods, for example. By December 2023, I had already met my financial goal and bought my wife her car. I couldn’t let my sweetheart keep trekking in this Lagos.”
From accomplishing personal and business goals, to enabling a grand romantic gesture like gifting a new car, PiggyVest has undoubtedly improved Isaac’s financial health. Seeing how much is possible once you build good saving habits gives Isaac much to look forward to.
“Since using PiggyVest, I’ve learnt that you can build financial discipline if you really want to, especially when you have an app like PiggyVest that makes things so easy,” Isaac added. “I know life can be tough, so you need to have the right mindset and never give up. As a businessman, I’ve seen people grow from zero to a hundred in a short time, and I’ve seen people strive for longer. The important thing is that you keep going, and in the end, you’ll reach your goals.”
