Nigeria’s Astravest assists retail clients in increasing their wealth by diversifying their investments.

Astravest, a Nigerian business, is an investment platform that enables retail users to diversify their investments in dependable assets like commodities, fixed income, and real estate in order to increase their wealth.

Astravest, a company that helps Africans conserve, diversify, and develop their money, was founded in 2022 by serial entrepreneur Chibuike Goodnews, formerly of the marketing tech business Dochase, and software engineer Joshua Chinemezu.

“We grant them the authority to transfer their savings between low-risk and high-risk assets. Our commodity investment is a leader in the field of retail commodity investing and gives consumers access to commodity exchanges so they can trade commodities like equities. Users of our real estate investment platform can co-own homes in areas with strong economic growth and profit from the homes’ sales or rentals, according to Goodnews, which spoke with Disrupt Africa.

Because it enables individuals to own properties with limited resources while still reaping the rewards of investments in large properties, it serves as the entrance point for middle-class people into real estate investments.

The two founders of Astravest have previously invested in equities, the stock market, and cryptocurrencies. They were aware of the risks associated with such investments due to market volatility, manipulations, and influencer effects.

“We realized that users needed investments that were supported by tangible assets with low volatility, compelled sale value, and future development potential. This made us realize that having actual assets to support your money is the greatest way to keep it. In real estate, the worst that may happen is that you don’t sell, but your money is still there and you can still earn money from rentals, according to Goodnews.

“You cannot have a situation where your $1,000 in savings suddenly drops to $100 due to a tweet,” the author said.

In order to save money and benefit from seasonal price increases from the time of harvest to the usage of those commodities by industries in foods, beverages, and drinks, Goodnews has invested in physical storage of agro-commodities.

Prices may not fluctuate by enormous amounts, but they are also not as volatile as those observed in equities and cryptocurrencies. Therefore, we established Astravest to aid consumers in saving, protecting their savings, and still growing their savings, he stated.

“Although current investing platforms advertise excellent returns, they have instead given small-scale investors negative growth or significant losses. We discovered that the majority of non-physical asset investments, such as stocks and cryptocurrencies, come with significant risks due to unstable markets and outside influence. Due to the recent crisis, millions of people who had invested in digital assets have lost money, and there were no backup plans. We thought to ourselves, “Users will be able to preserve their wealth if we can digitize investments in stable assets.”

Astravest has shown “exciting uptake,” particularly from people who have had “challenging” experiences while investing money in other assets and investment platforms. Astravest is currently mostly self-funded.

“After going live for three months, we had more than 10,000 users. As more users gain confidence in the platform, I anticipate tremendous growth for us,” stated Goodnews.

“Although we are already active in Nigeria, we intend to expand throughout Africa and Europe. Based on measured risks and validated market insights, we are moving forward boldly.