How HaloFi Is Building a DeFi Savings Movement in Nigeria
By Ugo Aliogo
For millions of Nigerians, saving money has always been an act of faith; faith that the naira will hold its value long enough to matter, that a bank account won’t be frozen at an inconvenient moment, and that the informal savings circles known as ajo or esusu, while reliable in spirit, will be enough in practice. The reality is that they often are not. Currency devaluation erodes purchasing power faster than interest rates can compensate, and access to dollar-denominated savings tools remains out of reach for most ordinary people.
Decentralised finance promised to change that equation. Stablecoin-based savings products, in theory, could hold value and generate yield regardless of what was happening at the Central Bank. But a promising product sitting on a blockchain solves nothing if the people who need it most have never heard of it, don’t understand it, or don’t trust it. That is the gap HaloFi set out to close, and Nigeria is where they chose to start.
HaloFi, formerly known as GoodGhosting, is a decentralised savings application built on the Celo and Base blockchains. It allows users to save in USD-pegged stablecoins like cUSD and USDC while earning yield through integrations with DeFi protocols such as Aave and Moola. With a mobile-friendly interface designed specifically for emerging markets and over $3.5 million in total savings facilitated to date, the product had genuine merit. What it needed was a genuine introduction to the Nigerian market, and to deliver that, HaloFi needed the right person on the ground.
In November 2023, the company brought on Adam Saheed as Africa Growth Manager, tasking him with leading their Nigerian market entry and building the ecosystem strategy that would turn an unfamiliar product into a trusted savings tool. It was a significant bet. Nigeria is not a market that rewards generic playbooks; it rewards relationships, community, and earned credibility. Saheed, a Business Development and Community Growth professional with deep experience across blockchain and fintech in Africa, had spent years building exactly those things.
The launch itself was a coordinated, multi-day effort that reflected the seriousness with which HaloFi approached the market. Saheed hosted the company’s core team visiting from the UK and USA, managed the full launch communications stack; from the announcement blog post to website updates to simultaneous social media campaigns, and coordinated the official product launch on November 9th, 2023. The following day, he organised Crypto Friday with HaloFi, a community activation event in Lagos built in partnership with MiniPay, GoodDollar, and the Celo Africa DAO. Rather than a corporate announcement, it was designed to feel like an invitation; accessible, community-driven, and grounded in the local ecosystem. On November 11th, HaloFi secured an exhibition booth at the Africa Startup Festival in Lagos, putting the product in front of founders, investors, and the continent’s broader tech community. In three days, the company had gone from unknown to visible, not through advertising spend, but through deliberate, relationship-driven strategy.
The expansion that followed was equally methodical. To drive user acquisition and deepen roots in the market, Saheed designed and launched the HaloFi Ambassador Program, recruiting 20 ambassadors embedded across 20 Nigerian universities. The logic was straightforward: if HaloFi was going to become a household name in Nigerian crypto circles, it needed advocates who were already trusted within their own communities. The program worked well enough that it didn’t stay in Nigeria for long. Recognising the replicable model, Saheed expanded it into Kenya, adding 10 more ambassadors to support the company’s regional growth ambitions.
Alongside the ambassador network, HaloFi rolled out a referral program, forged ecosystem partnerships with MiniPay, GoodDollar, Base, and Beefy, and kept community momentum alive through regular AMAs, quizzes, and bi-weekly X Spaces with influencers and ecosystem leaders. To tackle one of DeFi’s most persistent barriers, the learning curve, the company also launched the HaloFi DeFi Diploma Course, a structured educational initiative designed to walk users through the fundamentals of decentralised finance and guide them toward active engagement with the platform.
The numbers reflect a market that is beginning to respond. HaloFi’s X following has grown to 9,900, over 1,000 active community members have been built across Telegram and X, and on-chain activity has reached 126,587 total transactions, with 47,820 of those recorded within the first six months of growth efforts alone.
HaloFi’s Nigerian story is still being written. But the early chapters suggest a company that understood something important before it arrived: that breaking into this market isn’t about having the best product on paper. It’s about showing up, building trust, and giving people a reason to believe that this time, the promise of a better way to save is actually real.
