Financial literacy content aimed at young Nigerians has grown steadily in reach over the past few years, spanning podcasts, social media pages and, more recently, entertainment formats such as game shows. What is drawing closer attention now is not how many people are consuming this content, but how many are acting on it.
InvestBeta, the financial game show produced by Stanbic IBTC Asset Management, a subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, is one of the formats credited with making that content more accessible. Now in its third season and soon to be aired on the Stanbic IBTC YouTube channel, the show has built a format around testing contestants on financial knowledge and decision making under time pressure, an approach the company says was designed to make investing feel less abstract.
Busola Jejelowo, Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Asset Management, describing the thinking behind the show noted that, “InvestBeta has always been about making the language of investing feel less distant and more practical for everyday people,”
Busola added, “The first part of financial literacy is generating interest and improving comprehension. The harder measure of success is what happens once the entertainment ends. A viewer who understands the difference between a mutual fund and a treasury bill has not necessarily started saving in either.”
That distinction is where Stanbic IBTC Asset Management positions BluNest, its digital investment platform, as the more relevant part of the conversation going forward. BluNest is available through the Stanbic IBTC Mobile App and a secure web platform and allows users to save and invest across instruments including mutual funds, treasury bills and fixed deposits from one account.
The platform was built to lower the practical barriers that keep people from starting. Users can open an account and begin investing with as little as five thousand naira, across instruments including mutual funds, treasury bills and fixed deposits, rather than needing a large sum or specialised financial knowledge to get started.
A low entry point removes the upfront hesitation that keeps many people from opening an account at all, even when the intention to save already exists. It does not guarantee a habit form, but it removes one of the more common reasons people delay starting.
The company has also used a simpler framing to encourage consistent saving, referred to in InvestBeta campaign material as the 20 percent challenge, the practice of setting aside a fifth of one’s income regardless of how much that income is. The principle is presented not as a fixed target but as a proportion that can scale with an individual’s earnings, meant to reinforce the idea that saving consistently matters more than saving a large amount at once.
For Stanbic IBTC Asset Management, the positioning reflects a broader shift in how the company is framing its financial education efforts. Rather than treating shows like InvestBeta as standalone entertainment, the company is presenting them as the first step in a longer process, one that is only complete when a viewer opens an account and begins saving or investing.
InvestBeta Gameshow 3.0 new episodes aires on the Stanbic IBTC YouTube channel. BluNest remains available to new and existing Stanbic IBTC customers through the Stanbic IBTC Mobile App and online.
Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited is registered and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria as a Fund/Portfolio Manager.