In Nigeria, financial stress is a daily reality for millions of people. Recent data shows that over 60% of salary earners run out of money by the middle of the month, while self-employed professionals often face cash flow gaps that force borrowing or debt within 30 days of receiving lump-sum payments.
Students, too, frequently spend their allowances within the first fortnight of a term, leaving them financially constrained for the rest of the period. The root cause is often the same, that’s, poor lump-sum money management, a problem that costs time, peace of mind, and productivity.
In this edition of Techparley’s Drive100, where we spotlight Africa’s most promising emerging innovations, we focus the light on Planmoni, a Nigerian fintech startup that leverages AI to help users manage lump-sum payments, pace spending, and make their money last longer.
Founded by Martins Osodi, Planmoni’s promise is simple yet powerful, to give users control over their money, reduce impulsive spending, and create financial discipline across income types.
What You Should Know About Planmoni
Planmoni is a Nigerian fintech startup designed to solve the persistent problem of poor lump-sum financial management. Unlike traditional banks or standard savings apps that simply store money, Planmoni uses AI to structure users’ income, helping them manage, pace, and plan their funds over time.
The startup targets diverse user groups, salary earners, freelancers, and students, offering tailored solutions for each. For salary earners, the app divides income into daily, weekly, or biweekly payouts to avoid running out of funds.
Freelancers and business owners can manage irregular income flows, reducing the need for debt or ad hoc borrowing. Students can develop early financial discipline, gaining control over their limited allowances while avoiding financial stress.
Martins Osodi, Planmoni’s founder, explains, “Our goal is not just to hold money, it’s to help people make it last, spend wisely, and plan effectively.”
By actively pacing money instead of passively storing it, Planmoni empowers users to make deliberate financial choices, reduce stress, and plan for both short- and long-term needs.
How the Startup Operates: Features and Benefits
Planmoni integrates artificial intelligence, automated scheduling, and personalized financial insights into a single ecosystem that actively controls cashflow. Its key features are designed to give users practical, actionable control over their finances.
AI Financial Planner: Analyzes users’ spending habits and patterns, providing personalized recommendations, budgeting advice, and alerts to prevent overspending.
Automated Payout Scheduling: Ensures users receive money according to their preferred schedule, preventing premature depletion of funds and enabling precise control over daily, weekly, or monthly budgets.
Multi-User Accessibility: Caters to salaried employees, freelancers, and students alike, unifying diverse income types within one platform to make financial discipline accessible to all.
The benefits are tangible and significant:
- Users avoid running out of money mid-month, minimizing financial stress and reliance on credit.
- Salary earners, freelancers, and students gain visibility and control over their cashflows, improving financial decision-making.
- Enhanced financial literacy and planning help users make better long-term choices, setting them up for sustainable wealth management and avoiding recurring money stress.
Progress, Traction, and Milestones by Planmoni
Planmoni has made solid progress since its launch. The app, website, backend infrastructure, and customer support systems are already functional.
The startup has secured key banking partnerships and amassed a waitlist of over 1,000 users, highlighting early demand for structured financial management.
Looking forward, Planmoni plans to scale rapidly:
6–12 Months: Onboard users from App Store and Google Play, grow active users from the current waitlist to 50,000, and refine the AI algorithm based on early user behavior.
2–3 Years: Reach 1 million active users across Nigeria, manage N100 billion in monthly transactions, and integrate credit and lending features powered by structured income data.
5 Years: Become Africa’s leading financial control platform, serving over 10 million users across multiple countries and establishing itself as the default system for salary pacing, freelancer payouts, and structured income management.
Meet the Team Behind Planmoni Vision
Planmoni’s team combines technical expertise, fintech experience, and product design skills.
Martins Osodi (Founder & CEO): Serial tech entrepreneur and product designer with experience scaling products to over 2 million global users. He oversees overall strategy, product vision, and growth.
Sebastine Nwobodo (Co-Founder & CTO): Software engineer with over 9 years building scalable fintech and social platforms, responsible for backend infrastructure and AI integration.
Isaac Agabi (COO): Experienced software engineer and former OPay employee, managing operational execution and team performance.
The broader nine-member team includes specialists in compliance, legal, growth, and creative operations, ensuring that Planmoni not only functions as a robust technical product but also addresses user needs, regulatory requirements, and market engagement.
Challenges and How Planmoni Is Overcoming Them
Building a fintech solution that effectively serves multiple user groups comes with several challenges.
Designing for Diverse Income Patterns: Salary earners, freelancers, and students have very different cashflow behaviors. Planmoni addresses this with AI-driven custom payout scheduling that adapts to different user needs.
Securing Partnerships: Integrating with banks and payment systems required negotiating trust and compliance. Planmoni leveraged Osodi’s fintech experience and built relationships with financial institutions to establish secure operations.
Scaling Infrastructure: The backend systems needed to handle millions of transactions without failure. The startup’s CTO, Sebastine Nwobodo, designed a scalable system that ensures reliability even with rapid growth.
By combining AI-driven planning, automation, and user-centered design, Planmoni mitigates the common pitfalls of personal finance apps, such as low adoption, disengagement, and poor user experience.
Vision, Expansion, and Targeted Impact
Planmoni’s vision extends beyond Nigeria. In the next year, the startup will move from its waitlist to tens of thousands of active users, demonstrating the impact of structured financial pacing.
Over the next 2 to 3 years, the platform aims to scale nationally, manage billions in monthly transactions, introduce lending products, and expand into other African markets.
By the five-year mark, Planmoni aspires to be Africa’s default financial control platform, empowering millions to regain control over their finances and fostering a culture of money discipline across the continent.
As Osodi explains, “If we can help people control their money and plan it better, we can improve livelihoods, reduce financial stress, and enable Nigerians to focus on productivity rather than scarcity.”
By combining AI, automation, and a focus on behavioral finance, Planmoni positions itself not just as a fintech app, but as a companion for financial well-being, transforming how Africans manage and optimize their income.
Talking Points
Planmoni tackles a deeply rooted and widespread challenge in Nigeria, poor lump-sum money management, with a clear, AI-driven solution that combines automation, structured payouts, and personalized financial insights.
Its strength lies in addressing multiple user groups simultaneously, salary earners, freelancers, and students, while integrating features that go beyond simple money storage, giving users practical control over their finances.
However, the solution also faces notable challenges. Financial behavior is deeply ingrained and culturally nuanced, meaning adoption may require continuous user education and trust-building.
Additionally, Planmoni’s reliance on AI-driven planning and automated payouts assumes a consistent digital literacy and internet access that may not yet be universal across its target demographics.
While its vision of scaling across Nigeria and eventually Africa is ambitious and promising, execution will demand careful attention to regulatory compliance, user engagement, and infrastructure scalability.
Nonetheless, Planmoni represents a strong, innovative approach to financial inclusion, yet its long-term impact will hinge on behavioral adoption, technological accessibility, and sustained operational excellence.
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