In a sea of fintech startups chasing adult consumers with sleek interfaces and digital wallets, Gbolahan Faniran is building something radically different. His mission is not to help people move money faster, but to teach children how money works in the first place. The product he built, MinieMoney, is more than an app. It’s a response to a generational problem that no one else in Africa’s fintech space is solving.
Gbolahan didn’t come into this as a trend chaser. He came into it as a father.
While looking for tools to teach his children how to manage money, he discovered a massive gap in the market. No solution allowed families to actively involve their kids in learning the principles of saving, budgeting, and investing. Traditional banks had nothing. Neobanks were focused on twenty-somethings. Edtechs taught theory. But no app empowered Nigerian teenagers to develop money skills through practice. So, he built one.
A Founder’s Problem Turned Into a Platform
MinieMoney lets parents assign tasks, give digital allowances, set goals, and monitor their children’s progress as they save and learn. Teenagers, in turn, learn by doing. They earn from chores, budget for wants versus needs, and can even simulate investments. What makes the platform powerful is not just its interface or features. It’s the thinking behind it. Gbolahan designed MinieMoney to shift the mindset of an entire generation from short-term spending to long-term building.
Nigeria has one of the youngest populations in the world, with over 60 percent under the age of 25. But in this same country, the concept of structured savings for children is still foreign to most families. According to recent studies, the majority of Nigerian households do not set up savings or investment accounts for their kids. For Gbolahan, this disconnect is more than a market gap. It’s a missed opportunity to address Nigeria’s growing wealth inequality through behavior change that begins at home.
Not Just Tech for Tech’s Sake
Gbolahan brings to the table a product philosophy grounded in purpose. He is not trying to win on features alone. He is trying to win by building trust and making an impact. In an environment where most financial apps are chasing short-term metrics, he is building for a long-term cultural shift.
That is what makes MinieMoney different. It is not competing with savings apps like PiggyVest or investment tools like Bamboo. It is working upstream, helping children understand why saving and investing matter before they even get their first job. It’s helping parents shift from simply providing money to guiding their use. And it’s doing so in a way that feels intuitive to both generations.
The Road Ahead
For Gbolahan and the MinieMoney team, this is just the beginning. The long-term vision is to make MinieMoney the go-to financial education platform for families across Africa. Expansion talks are already underway with regional stakeholders. New features are in the pipeline, including collaborative saving goals, school-based integrations, and parent-led investment funds for their children’s futures.
If successful, MinieMoney will not just improve the financial habits of teenagers. It will change the relationship African families have with money. And at the heart of that shift is a founder who didn’t just see a market opportunity. He saw a personal need and answered it with code.
MinieMoney proves that some of the most meaningful innovations start at home. And in 2024, few founders are doing more to rewire Africa’s future financial behavior than Gbolahan Faniran.
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