Who Is Odunayo Eweniyi? Biography of PiggyVest Co-Founder and Fintech Entrepreneur
Odunayo Eweniyi is a Nigerian business executive, tech entrepreneur, and activist. She is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of PiggyVest, Nigeria’s largest digital savings and investment platform, and she has origins in Oyo State, Nigeria.
What Does Odunayo Eweniyi Do?
Odunayo Eweniyi builds and operates fintech companies while advocating for gender equality in African business. Examples of her work include:
- Overseeing operations, finance, and fundraising as COO of PiggyVest
- Backing female-led startups as General Partner of FirstCheck Africa
- Advocating for women’s rights through the Feminist Coalition
- Serving on the board of Village Capital
Where Is Odunayo Eweniyi From?
Odunayo Eweniyi is the first child of two professors with family origins in Oyo State, Nigeria.
What Is Odunayo Eweniyi’s Educational Background?
Odunayo Eweniyi studied Computer Engineering at Covenant University from 2008 to 2013, graduating with a first-class degree and finishing top of her class. She later pursued further study at SOAS University of London between 2020 and 2022, completed a freeCodeCamp program in 2017 and 2018, and took Harvard Business School Online coursework in 2020. She also holds certifications from Microsoft, earned in 2019, and Cisco, earned in 2011.
How Did Odunayo Eweniyi Start Her Career?
Odunayo Eweniyi started her career immediately after graduating in 2013. She co-founded PushCV, a job site, with Somto Ifezue and Joshua Chibueze. PushCV grew into one of Africa’s largest job platforms, holding one of the continent’s largest databases of pre-screened candidates. Two years later, in 2016, the same trio launched PiggyVest.
What Is PiggyVest?
PiggyVest is a Nigerian digital savings and investment platform co-founded by Odunayo Eweniyi in 2016. It was the first online savings and investment app in West Africa. Under her leadership as COO, the platform grew to serve more than 5.5 million users by 2025, and later reporting placed that figure above 6 million. PiggyVest gives Nigerians tools to save, invest, and earn interest on their funds, addressing a gap in financial access across the country.
| Milestone | Year |
|---|---|
| Graduated Covenant University, Computer Engineering | 2013 |
| Co-founded PushCV | 2013 |
| Co-founded PiggyVest | 2016 |
| Co-founded Feminist Coalition | 2020 |
| Co-founded FirstCheck Africa | January 2021 |
| Inducted into Global Business Hall of Fame | 2024 |
What Is the Feminist Coalition?
The Feminist Coalition is a group of young Nigerian feminists that Odunayo Eweniyi co-founded in 2020. The organization works to advance gender equality in Nigeria, focusing on education, financial freedom, and representation in public office. During the #EndSARS protests in October 2020, Eweniyi played an active role in mobilizing resources and amplifying calls for change, work that contributed to the Coalition’s inclusion on Vogue’s list of women leaders who changed the world that year.
What Is FirstCheck Africa?
FirstCheck Africa is a pre-seed and seed-stage investment fund that Odunayo Eweniyi co-founded in January 2021. The fund invests in high-growth African tech startups that have at least one female co-founder, aiming to close the funding gap facing women entrepreneurs on the continent. She serves as General Partner and has made early investments in companies including Cleva.
What Awards Has Odunayo Eweniyi Won?
Odunayo Eweniyi has received numerous awards across technology, business, and social impact categories since 2018. Her recognitions include:
- Future Awards Africa Prize in Technology (2018)
- Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 Technology (2019)
- Quartz Africa Innovator (2019)
- Bloomberg 50 honoree (2020)
- TIME100 Next honoree (2021)
- Forbes Woman Africa Technology and Innovation Award (2022)
- Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst (2022)
- One Young World Entrepreneur of the Year (2023)
- Global Business Hall of Fame inductee (2024)
She has also been profiled by international publications including Time, British Vogue, the BBC, CNN, The Guardian, and The New York Times.
What Boards Does Odunayo Eweniyi Serve On?
Odunayo Eweniyi serves as a board member at Village Capital, an organization that supports impact-driven, seed-stage entrepreneurs globally. She has also served in an advisory capacity for organizations including the Nigerian University of Technology and Management and the Gender Lens Acceleration Best Practices Initiative, a joint effort between Village Capital and the International Finance Corporation’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative.
What Makes Odunayo Eweniyi Notable in African Tech?
Odunayo Eweniyi stands out for building financial infrastructure and investment capital access at the same time. As COO of PiggyVest, she helped scale one of West Africa’s first digital savings platforms to millions of users, while her work at FirstCheck Africa directs early-stage capital toward women-led startups that traditionally face funding gaps. Her activism through the Feminist Coalition during the 2020 #EndSARS protests extended her influence beyond fintech into Nigeria’s broader social and political landscape, a combination that has earned her recognition from Forbes, Bloomberg, TIME, and the Global Business Hall of Fame.
People Also Ask
What company did Odunayo Eweniyi co-found? Odunayo Eweniyi co-founded PiggyVest, PushCV, the Feminist Coalition, and FirstCheck Africa.
What did Odunayo Eweniyi study? She studied Computer Engineering at Covenant University, graduating with a first-class degree in 2013.
What is Odunayo Eweniyi’s role at PiggyVest? She serves as co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of PiggyVest.