YOMI'S STORY
Meet Yomi
"Things will change when I start working. I want to go to acting school, I want to build a house in my village."
Yomi, 19 years old, lives in Lagos with his aunt and five cousins. Due to a series of unfortunate incidents that put his family in a tough financial situation, he left home several years ago to attend secondary school and later find work. He dreams of one day attending Nollywood school and pursuing a career as an actor. In the meantime he has worked various odd jobs to grow his savings for his future education. Though he is digitally literate, Yomi is skeptical about using his smartphone for financial transactions and believes that banks should just be used to accumulate savings.
What are some of Yomi’s long-term financial strategies that he hopes will propel him towards his career ambitions?
SEGMENT OVERVIEW
Resilient Savers,
by the numbers
Like Yomi, Resilient Savers are mostly young to middle aged, rural, religious, married men who are formally or self-employed. Approximately 22 million (21% of the Nigerian population) fall in this segment.
Resilient Savers
Nigeria Average
GENDER (MALE)
74%
49%
AGE (18-34)
61%
62%
SOCIOECONOMIC (SES 4-5)
40%
40%
HIGH INCOME VOLATILITY
48%
54%
Relative to other segments, Resilient Savers are more evenly distributed across socioeconomic groups, measuring just below average SES in Nigeria. Most identify as head of household and have completed at least secondary school. Though rural, only a fifth rely on farming as their primary source of income, though most likely farm in addition doing other work. They are the financially healthiest of the rural segments and have relatively low income volatility.
Financial Behavior & Attitudes
SAVINGS BEHAVIOR & ATTITUDES
While most don’t believe they earn enough to save, Resilient Savers are the most frequent savers of any segment. This is aided by their effective planning skills and their tendency to view savings as being unsafe from the claims of others.
SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
They tend to view their savings as unsafe from others, which may drive their use of formal accounts, such as mobile savings, and group savings with family.
BORROWING BEHAVIOR & ATTITUDES
They also borrow with more frequency than average across all channels, perhaps in part because of high comfort holding debt, trust in banks, and respect for authority.
BORROWING ACCOUNTS
However, the exception for Resilient Savers is formal group borrowing (e.g. ROSCAs) and mobile borrowing, which they do not frequently resort to.
Resilient Savers
Nigeria Average
Explore our complete set of findings:
