HerVest, a major player in the FinTech space has launched its services to help women better access financial services. With a mission to improve women’s lives through greater access to and use of financial services, HerVest said its services would give women greater access to participate in investments through easy to use platforms and a guided approach to investing.
The FinTech Startup, in a statement, said: “It is almost impossible to overlook SDG5 with its call for gender equality and reducing inequalities in the 17 action points of the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), which is the most comprehensive global roadmap to shared human progress.
“This is even more true for Nigeria, where the gender bias is not only keeping women down, but also restraining the country from nearing its massive potential.” It quoted McKinsey report the McKinsey report, which says that Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) could grow by 23 per cent or $229 billion by 2025 if women participated in the economy to the same extent as men.
The platform, which is currently in beta-phase is goal-based savings in addition to annualised interests up to 15 per cent, which HerVest offers users free, specialised, one-on-one support to ensure goal actualisation and balance in areas that affect their finance vice-versa.
Product Management Lead at HerVest, Aminat Alegunleye,said: “We are a growth community beyond savings. We offer absolutely free support from women professionals in areas that affect wealth creation and sustainability. These areas include; financial literacy, healthcare, career, entrepreneurship, insurance, continuing education and more.”
She also assured users of fund safety, saying: “We invest your savings in low-risk, principal-guaranteed financial instruments with only regulated investment portfolio managers.”
HerVest seeks to bridge existing money gender gaps from stereotyped pay gaps and other social cultural norms. As a result, the application was built with tailored features to help women set long term investment goals by creating different and specific plans through their investment wallet in-app. Also embedded in the platform’s technology is a finance mentorship hub to allow female users discuss basic and extensive money matters with dedicated finance experts in a judgement free ambience. Users can also discuss other lifestyle related issues like career, entrepreneurship, healthcare and insurance with certified experts on the platform.
The application, which is currently available on android with iOS is backed by a co-operative multi-purpose license and guarantees the safety of investors capital through a partnership with a trust company. Legal Director and Board Member at HerVest, Philip Itimitang-Idiok, said: “We are currently in partnership with the trustees who act in the capacity to serve as custodian of our pool of investment, we are also compliant with all regulatory guidelines and procedures in order to return competitive returns to our women.”
