An indigenous financial technology (FinTech) firm, CashBox, has seen a 40 per cent growth month-on-month between March and July this year which has pushed customers’ savings to N1 billion.
Sydney Aigbogun, its founder and chief executive officer (CEO) explained that before the outbreak of the virus which spurred lockdown, savers on the platform lodged between N30 million and N50 million on a monthly basis.
“Since the lockdown was declared, that number has moved to about N200 million,” said.
Speaking with reporters in Lagos, he said the firm plans to transform the asset management space in the country as more people chose its platform to save for the rainy day during the lockdown.
Aigbogun said: “We cannot say what led to the leap, but we did intensify our campaign; making them more targeted at a specific segment of users. We tried to convince users they could save their transportation since they would not be going to work anymore or other spending they will usually do while physically at work.”
Founded a year ago, he said the firm has remained focused in its strategy to drive more savers to the platform, not looking elsewhere for external fundeding.
Aigbogun said the decision not to seek funding in its first year was to enable investors see CashBox was more than an idea.
“We wanted to show our results, we wanted to show that our idea is working,” he said, adding that the firm was hoping to raise between $600,000 and $1 million.
Two months ago, CashBox revamped its mobile app adding features, such as pidgin language, which is popular among young people, adding that much of the demography of its users are young and mostly come from Lagos and Abuja.
The mobile app also has a remittance feature that makes it easier for Nigerians living abroad to send money to their loved ones without the stress of the usual bank channels. Also, the usual multiple fees are eliminated. A user living in London, for instance, can send money in pounds to the app which is eventually converted and withdrawn in naira.
The app also gave users options for savings such as the clique, regular, vault, and Swift savings. Clique, he said, allowed users to save with their friends, stressing that a group of friends could set a savings target and monitor each while they meet the target. It is similar to the traditional Esusu model.
Regular enables users to load money in their savings wallets automatically. Withdrawal is easily done once and also on free withdrawal days which is once in a quarter. Regular users can earn 10 percent per annum using transfer. The vault plan is a personalised fixed deposit account that earns 10-15 per cent per annum depending on a chosen tenor. Vault savers can lock funds for a period of 90 days or more, and earn interest upfront immediately.
Aigbogun said the next frontier for CashBox is in helping its growing users manage and grow their savings. Hence it is already discussing with investment experts on potential assets that would guarantee a return on investment.
“We don’t just want to invest in anything like everyone is doing,” he said, adding that the firm was already planning a new life in agriculture investment and would consider real estate as time goes on,’’ he said.
