Odunayo Eweniyi is Not Your Average Tech Bro

Two weeks after graduating Covenant University, Odunayo Eweniyi set out for Lagos, to seek job opportunities, bask in her new found freedom and begin life in a big city - her career prospects and future within reach.

After two weeks of attending job interviews and being disillusioned by the scarcity and nepotism that riddles the Nigerian job market in real time, Miss Eweniyi began thinking it might be time to return home to Ogun State where she originally lived. Only a recent graduate with a first class in computer engineering, finding a well paying job was the logical next step at the time.

On her final interview, Miss Eweniyi would be offered the job - a writing gig as a fashion blogger for a publication with a monthly income of ₦20,000 (about $60), not exactly livable income but income regardless.

On her way out of the interview premises, wondering whether to accept the offer, she heard someone call out to her with an invitation.

“Odun! Yo! Come inside!” Casually with his head still sticking outside a window, it was Somto Ifezue, a college friend, who at the time was working on a start-up, PushCV, a platform for job seekers. Immediately, he asked if Miss Eweniyi would like to join him and Joshua Chibueze (another college friend) who was also present.

She agreed without delay.

A few years later, the trio would become co-founders of PiggyVest, Nigeria’s foremost savings-only and investment platform and the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa.

For as long as she could remember, being bold and solution oriented was a lifestyle for Miss Eweniyi inculcated in her by the upbringing of her parents who are both college professors. Early on they found she was a precocious child that excelled academically so much so she graduated high school at the age of fourteen. Despite progress being made, some Nigerians struggle to embrace the notion of gender equality, education, leadership and empowerment of girls and women.

As a result, Miss Eweniyi considers herself fortunate for her parents whom she credits with teaching her self-awareness, making available resources and the space to thrive. Therefore declining a below-minimum wage work to carve out a path for herself on her own merit was quite on brand for Miss Eweniyi.

It is her deep concern for needs of people, ambitious drive and alternate approach to thinking and tackling problems that in 2016 led to the birth of PiggyVest (fomerly PiggyBank.ng) of which Ms. Eweniyi occupies the central role of Chief Operations Officer, (COO).

How can we digitize a wooden savings box

Via their WhatsApp group chat, this was the question Miss Eweniyi posed to her co-founders on the last day of the year in 2015 when #NigerianTwitter was abuzz because of a viral post of a woman who broke her kolo, a traditional version of a piggy bank, to reveal the exact sum of ₦365,000 (approx. $1000). Turns out she had committed to saving ₦1,000 daily at the beginning of the year. Many people were surprised and impressed at such a fit, knowing the difficulty of saving, daily, an amount of money considered change that is quickly used up.

The Twitter frenzy was nonstop. And in the spirit of “New year; new me”, many online expressed that they would like to attempt what this woman had done. Simultaneously vendors of these wooden savings boxes began to advertise for those interested to purchase.

In a country where also people have to pay lump sums or full price for everything up front, inflation is the norm and financial literacy is reserved for the wealthy, Miss Eweniyi and her co-founders had identified a challenge millions of Nigerians, especially young people had been experiencing.

The team immediately sprang into action. Their solution: re-build and reinforce the savings culture to ensure financial freedom and health by digitizing the local savings wooden box and make it sustainable and inclusive for potential users.

PiggyVest (formerly piggybank.ng) since its inception in 2016 has helped people better manage not just their funds but included other financial products like micro insurance, micro pensions, treasury bills that are accessible and affordable in a manner that fits the daily lives and reality of Nigerians. And so far this combination of technology and smart behavioral insights has helped over two million Nigerians save about $80 million.

By creating an application that is easy to navigate, their customers are provided options to save little amounts of money daily, weekly or monthly towards specific targets or have lock away funds for a specified period of time only to be accessed without fees on a quarterly basis - in short, PiggyVest “makes you save” which is what Miss Eweniyi and her co-founders set out to do. And they have succeeded beyond expectation while simultaneously providing direct competitive interest rates and other benefits that are shielded from fluctuating value of the Nigerian naira.

Great positive impact has been ushered into the lives of several Nigerians for the better - from giving agency to the financially excluded, to improving access to healthcare services and boosting other socio-economic productivity within society.

I am one of you , I am also Tech Bro

Miss Eweniyi asserts recalling a past encounter in the YouTube interview with venture capitalist, June Angelides. It was a Twitter conversation she had been a contributor in about personas, interests and dress modes of men in tech in which she noticed other participants mostly referred to them collectively as tech bros.

Miss Eweniyi proceeded to challenge this sole pronouncement of the title on Male tech entrepreneurs and innovators. She identified this behavior as condescending and another way of excluding women in the field. And she would not tolerate it or any other type discrimination directed at her or other women.

Miss Eweniyi is resolute that women in the tech space do not have to conform to the trends or practices of their male colleagues to be acknowledged as equals. Bearing in mind she codes, has tattoos (half of which are Physics-related), enjoys the comfort of wearing cool graphic t-shirts, jeans and sneakers to work, Miss Eweniyi insists that there is room for women from various backgrounds, possessing different tastes, interests and expertise for engagement and success in the industry.

Her Twitter handle, 10X Tech Bro is a depiction of her resistance to exclusion, owning her wins and credentials and a public proclamation that she is tech bro and then some.

Failure is very familiar

The success story that is PiggyVest to the point of her being at the helm of it all would not exist without past failures and challenges, admits Miss Eweniyi. As a team, herself and co-founders share the loss of many failed start-ups and several more to which she claims sole ownership.

Specifically with PiggyVest she remembers the rejections they encountered with investors and banks on pitching this idea of a savings-only platform geared towards the financial freedom and inclusion of Nigerians and Africans.

Prior to securing their largest funding by emerging as one of the two winners of the Village Capital Fintech Accelerator Program and their $1.1 million seed fund through LeadPath Nigeria, the initial funding for the company came from their personal funds. Miss Eweniyi also supplemented by doing side jobs, writing for tech companies in the area while bootstrapping Twitter and Instagram as choice platforms for promotion using catchy quips, memes and gifs.

In the face of these challenges she makes the point that pain as a result of failures and disappointments demands to be felt and regardless one must get back up and proceed “to the next thing with all the fears that the previous failure has instilled in you” - with this mindset and on the ashes of their setbacks, their company has excelled beyond their expectations and to the benefit of their customers.

Keep calm, sip wine & fight the patriarchy

The importance of safe spaces for women to be heard, be helped and to thrive cannot be overemphasized. Growth and success for women does not always have to emerge from a place of trials or hardship. Miss Eweniyi and Damilola Odufuwa, (women’s right activist and tech professional) understood that this too could be reflected boldly in the narrative of Nigerian women.

In 2018 they started Wine & Whine, an event based organization that brings young professional women together, to create an environment where their stories matter, to brainstorm creative and practical strategies to empower them and fight the injustices perpetuated by the patriarchal structures of the country and preferably with a glass of wine while at it.

With Wine and wine, the two women, both who are renowned in the Fintech industry plan to normalize ease and boost advancement in all areas of Nigerian women’s lives and shorten the existing inequality gaps among other developmental outcomes.

In charge of change

There is no single sector in which women are not disadvantaged. And it is important to remember that progress for women regardless of differences in their background and beliefs is progress for all women - shaping the next generation and inadvertently the future.

Achieving equality and creating equity to ensure that women have the same rights and access to succeed continues to be a matter of urgency.

Again the Wine and Whine duo set out to push the envelope a bit further. In July 2020 they formed the Feminist Coalition, or FemCo, a women’s rights advocacy group founded on three pillars: women’s rights and safety, financial literacy and representation of women in government across the legislature, executive and judiciary.

Joined by eleven founding members, the organization proactively embarked on its first project in October in which they proactively provided the structure that sustained the #EndSARS movement that took the entire country and the world by storm. By harnessing their expertise in Technology, finance, social media and advocacy, all thirteen women coordinated the logistics for the protest, raised funds about $400,000 in total and made available

medical care, legal aid, food and supplies for free to enable fellow citizens in their peaceful participation in the protests against police brutality and furthermore bad governance and corruption.

This involvement of the Feminist Coalition highlighted for the nation the positive impact women in leadership can have when given the opportunity.

The news of their success has been so widespread that since last year they have received awards and much recognition from local and international celebrities like Beyoncé, news outlets, magazines and organizations. Among other accolades Miss Eweniyi and Miss Odufuwa were named in notable magazines and publications including Vogue , Bloomberg and the 2021 Time100Next list

Continually a shift is happening where success in business, as a creator or innovator is no longer centered solely on profit but on impact. The challenges and injustice experienced by Miss Eweniyi and others have been the drive that birthed many of her pertinent contributions. She has worked her way up to the top, leading a prime fintech company in Africa’s largest economy.

And continues to work to help provide solutions and lift others up as she consolidates her career success and influence with her commitment to leadership and service which has stood out to me and been the thing I admire most about her.

Indeed she is no ordinary tech bro

Despite her growing list of achievements Miss Eweniyi is determined to continue to “aim very high, work very hard and care very deeply.”