Who we're serving.

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Here are two special people.

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They are representative of the many who are either unserved, or undeserved by the orthodoxy of the global financial system.

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They both have dreams for their future; dreams which they are unable to make a reality because the tools required to do so are not available to them.

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They come from countries which are mostly excluded from the kinds of opportunities those in the developed world take for granted.

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These people - and the hundreds of millions like them - are who Varidiem is intended to serve.

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Let's meet them - and take a look at some of the realities they face.

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Benjamin: Nigeria

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Ben is a photographer in Lagos, Nigeria.

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He's great at what he does and manages to earn a decent living. A couple of years ago, he invested US$1,000 with a local investment firm promising high rates of return. His bet did not pay off. He lost his entire investment, as did everyone else who invested with them. The investment firm promptly shut up shop and the principals disappeared, presumably with everyone's money. This is not an uncommon story

Recently, Ben has started using a Nigerian digital wealth app, PiggyVest. On the surface, this looks like a good decision, however, looking into how PiggyVest works (description below), it's clear that it was not. PiggyVest is likely the best of what's available to people like Ben, but it doesn't do a good enough job.

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Nigeria Snapshot:

Population: Approx. 240 million

Official language: English

Median age: 18.1 years

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Investment background:

The investing population is relatively young and tech-savvy, but with essentially no access to global markets. Many Nigerian investors lost considerable amounts of money in crypto throughout the bust of the past 10 months.

Recently, digital wealth apps (as opposed to trading apps) have begun to gain popularity, chiefly PiggyVest and Cowrywise. These mimic the well-established robo-advice model, pioneered in the US, however neither are able to provide access to global markets.

Cowrywise operates 3 risk-tailored mutual funds, which invest in Nigerian large cap stocks and debt securities. PiggyVest invests almost exclusively in debt securities.

There are a number of problems with both.

1. NGX30 stocks have returned effectively nothing in the past 5 years, with extreme volatility (+/- 50% is not uncommon), which means they have gone backwards significantly in real terms, due to structurally high inflation (currently around 19%).

2. Portfolios of Nigerian debt securities return around -6% pa in real terms.

3. The Naira continues to depreciate against the USD, officially, from $0.0028 to $0.0024 over the past 5 years, although the rate from the black market money changers, which are the most popular exchange agents, has become far worse.

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The situation for Nigerian investors:

1. Extremely limited investment options, with only sub-optimal local choices.

2. Native online services are available, but do not go far enough with respect to investible universe (Nigerian assets only).

3. High inflation/unstable currency.

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How Varidiem will help:

Ben is already a tech-savvy user of digital financial services.

For him, Varidiem would provide access to a far wider universe of investment options, meaning that he won't be going backwards all the time with his purely Nigerian holdings.

He's also an entrepreneurial thinker and it's almost certain that he would be coming up with ways to monetise his photography and other artistic skills via the Varidiem network, even just in receiving payments from foreign clients.

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Odontuya: Mongolia

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Odontuya runs a small clothing label. She has worked hard to get together a few thousand dollars in savings - and now she wants to make some investments for her future.

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Her first problem is that there are no reliable brokers in Mongolia - and there are no native online services.

Her second problem is that it's extremely difficult for Mongolians to open foreign brokerage accounts. Doing so would require her to get certified translations of various documents (if she has those documents in the first place), a letter from her bank, and perhaps a lot more besides. All of that can cost as much as US$200 and take several weeks.

Her third problem is that, even if she's able to open a foreign brokerage account, the only help she'll get with it will come from whatever she's able to find in books, or on social media. To be successful, she'll have to wade endlessly through unfamiliar concepts and terminology.

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At least she didn't go all-in on BTC or Dogecoin, like many of her friends did.

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Let's take a closer look at where she lives and some of the broader issues faced by Mongolian investors.

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Mongolia Snapshot:

Population: Approx. 3.2 million

Official language: Mongolian

Median age: 28.2 years

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Investment background:

The investing population of Mongolia is similar to that of many developing economies in that it, for the most part, lacks practical access to global markets and investment advice. Mongolia investors are relatively young and well-educated, although there is an elder class of individuals who have amassed considerable wealth through a variety of means, mostly stemming from Mongolia’s vast natural resources and close proximity to China.

There are no native digital wealth services and the real estate investments which have been the mainstay of Mongolian investing are quickly grinding to a halt amid vast oversupply of empty housing units.

There is a securities exchange in Mongolia, however it is thinly liquid, highly concentrated and - shall we say - not particularly well thought of. Like everywhere else on earth, crypto trading became very popular at one point, however this has mostly died down since so many people lost so much money.

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The situation for Mongolian investors:

1. Extremely limited investment options, unless you're willing to do a let of leg work (eg. going through the process to obtain a foreign brokerage account).

2. Domestic investing expertise is difficult to come by and international investing expertise is inaccessible for retail investors.

3. Official inflation rate of approx. 15%, however there is evidence to suggest it’s considerably higher.

4. Tugrug continues to depreciate against the USD at a stellar clip, as it has done since 2008, losing over two thirds of it’s value in that time.

5. Capital flight rules limit the amount of money an individual can take out of the country under most circumstances.

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How Varidiem will help:

Varidiem will be a gateway to a world of opportunity which has always been beyond her reach.

Despite having had a good income for many years, Odonchimeg has never used any kind of wealth product, let alone a sophisticated digital wealth product. There are no investment advisors in her country and her bank won't let her access any overseas investments unless she is investing at least $100,000.

Varidiem will help her by providing any functionality she is likely to need, along with meaningful guidance at every step, in her own language.