Many entrepreneurs often struggle to find a community they can serve early in their entrepreneurship journey, and this can be the difference between success and failure for their businesses.
One entrepreneur that has leveraged social media space to find the right community to serve is Jennifer Awirigwe, the founder of FinTribe.
Jennifer is on a mission of building a community of financial experts by providing thousands of individuals with a simplified guide on personal financial management.
Through FinTribe, an online platform, Jennifer – who is often referred to as Financial Jennifer has established a network for financial literacy for individuals in Nigeria by helping them find the right information needed to make investment decisions.
Jennifer was inspired to establish her online community platform owing to her experience in financial management.
“It was back in 2020 while reviewing my finances; I realized I haven’t been a good steward,” she says.
“I was making good money working as a Chartered Accountant, selling human hair extensions and doing some writing jobs. Yet, I couldn’t figure out exactly where my money was going. That’s when it dawned on me I needed to be intentional with my finances,” she explains.
The financial educator notes that she started sharing her financial journey on social media; from savings to investment, and learning experiences.
“I discovered that as I wrote about my journey, my followers could relate because I have this talent of simplifying financial jargon. Many were motivated by my posts to start on their financial journey too.”
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“Before you know it, we became a community of mostly women who have become intentional with their finances,” she adds.
On her plans for the year, Jennifer says that part of her goal is to sensitize people within her community more on different credible investment vehicles available to them.
“I’d be speaking more on investment opportunities in the stock market, government bonds, treasury bills, as well as commercial papers,” she says.
“Even in food storage investments. People need to be enlightened on these traditional investments to avoid falling prey to the noisy Ponzi schemes everywhere on social media,’’ she notes.
“In 2022, Jennifer urges investors not to be in a hurry to make quick ROI. The traditional investments earlier mentioned may not pay as high as those, but one is sure of their steady growth in the long run.”
She started her online platform with money raised from her savings.
Jennifer tells Start-Up-Digest that her online platform has continued to remain in operations owing to its adoption of innovation to drive sustainability and prompt responses to users’ queries and suggestions.
On how social media has helped in building her online community as a financial educator, she notes that it has been a powerful tool for her business.
“I leverage it to build and impact a committed community across the globe, mostly women, and it has continued to grow. Our community, FinTribe is a force to reckon with.”
“When you are passionate about a cause, and you have the gift of simplifying complex things the way everyday man understands, people will be drawn to you. And that’s what has been working for me,” she adds.
The chartered accountant turned influencer recently received an appreciation gift box from Meta (Facebook) for her global impact as a financial educator.
On her advice to individuals, she says that building and preserving wealth is not as complex as most people think, noting that it begins with having the right knowledge.
“Understand how each investment vehicle works. Going by your risk appetite and other considerations like duration, financial goals, decide on the suitable investment options. These are some of the things I help my clients to figure out,” she says.
