In today’s post, I’ve managed to secure some of the time of Koody founder and CEO; Halimah Omogiafo, who I have interviewed to find out what the Koody personal finance website is all about and what it can offer potential users.
Koody is a personal finance website which helps people stay on top of their finances. Whether it’s saving money, investing, sorting out your pensions or a host of other topics, users can ask their questions in the community and receive reliable information or links to many of Koody’s excellent resources.
On a personal note, I’ve been involved with the Koody community for the past few months answering user questions on topics ranging from investing to accounting. The great thing about this site is that you can get fast, reliable answers to your personal finance questions and you can feel confident that the person providing the answer knows what they’re talking about as their qualifications are displayed on their profile.
So let’s get into the interview – Halimah’s responses are in italics and everything else is written by me.
What the Koody community does and who it’s for
Luke (TheProgressionPlaybook):
Can you give me and the readers of this site a quick elevator-style pitch about what exactly the website and community does and who it’s designed for?
Halimah (Koody Founder):
Koody is an online marketplace for financial advice. It connects people who need financial guidance or advice to money management tools, financial advisers, money experts and the general public.
Having used Koody myself for a while now, I can vouch that it does all of these things well. Every time a question is posted into the community (which works in the same way as a question on Reddit or Quora works), I typically see a helpful, smart response within a day of the question being asked.
Unlike some websites where you don’t really know who is answering your question, on Koody, you can see the profile and the qualifications of the answerer. For example, I often answer accounting or investing for beginners style questions in the community – when I answer, Koody users can click on my profile which shows I’m a qualified ACA Accountant, have a website dedicated to personal finance and investing and have a Koody assigned ‘Finance Expert’ badge.
Koody also ranks its experts based on how many questions they’ve helpfully answered in the past which gives those asking questions an idea of how credible the person answering their personal finance question is.
A background on Koody Founder, Halimah Omogiafo
Luke (TheProgressionPlaybook):
As Founder of the Company, can you give us a little insight into your background and what your motivations were for creating this venture?
Halimah (Koody Founder):
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and a Master’s in Business Administration. Before Koody, I worked in retail banking and fintech startups for a few years. I am also a hobbyist software developer.
I decided to build Koody because I saw firsthand how difficult it is for people who know little about personal finance to manage their money or optimise their income. I am a member of several personal finance Facebook groups, and when I see the types of questions people ask in these groups and the frequency of these questions, it becomes clear to me that so much more needs to be done to close the widening financial advice gap in the UK.
My vision for Koody is that it becomes a company that democratises wealth management by creating tools to make financial advice cheaper and readily accessible.
I completely agree with Halimah here and the difficulties many people have with personal finance was one of the big motivations I had for setting up this website. Saving money, having access to an emergency fund and being confident in investing in stocks and shares for your future shouldn’t be big, scary hurdles.
That’s why I on this website and Halimah via Koody are both doing our bit to demystify these things for the wider public.
What personal finance means to Koody
Luke (TheProgressionPlaybook):
What first got you interested in personal finance as a topic?
Halimah (Koody Founder):
I realised from a very young age that I enjoyed reading and writing about money. Back in secondary school, Economics was my favourite subject, and I loved everything about it. I went on to study Finance and Business Administration in university and then worked in retail banking and fintech startups for a few years.
So, you can see that most of my experience has revolved around finance or personal finance. I want to do as much as I can to share my knowledge with as many people as possible.
Getting into the details of the Koody website
Luke (TheProgressionPlaybook):
In what ways can Koody help users with their personal finance goals & can you talk us through the current features of the community?
Halimah (Koody Founder):
Koody has three core features – free money management tools, an online community and financial advisers.
Our website is packed with easy-to-use and easy-to-navigate free money management tools. From comparing investment platforms to finding top savings accounts or best budgeting apps, we’ve created an easy way for you to quickly find the material you are looking for. We’ve spent quite some time optimising our website to help beginners stay on top of their money, but there’s something there for people at every level.
The second feature is our online community. It connects users to personal finance experts and the general public. It’s a great place to get answers to your most pressing personal finance questions quickly. The good thing about the Koody Community is that sometimes you might get lucky and have your question answered by a seasoned expert. That rarely happens elsewhere.
The third feature is a platform that allows you to speak to and book financial advisers. The platform is still under construction, but you can visit the community right now, talk to advisers via direct messaging and request their services.
The story behind the name of ‘Koody’
Luke (TheProgressionPlaybook):
What’s the story behind the Koody name?
Halimah (Koody Founder):
Koody is actually spelt as “kudi.” It means money in Hausa, which is a West African language.
How can users find Koody?
Luke (TheProgressionPlaybook):
Where should readers head too to find Koody online?
Halimah (Koody Founder):
Our website: https://www.koody.co
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koodyco/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Koodyco
Facebook: https://fb.me/Koodyco
Conclusion
So there you have it, an interview with Koody Founder, Halimah.
Please do check out the community here if you have any personal finance questions or topics you’re not confident on.
If you have any questions for Halimah, add a comment below and I’ll do my best to get you a response!
As always, please remember I am an Accountant, but not your Accountant. In this post (and all of my others) I share information and oftentimes give anecdotes about what has worked well for me. However, I do not know your personal financial situation and so do not offer individual financial advice. If you are unsure of a particular financial subject, please hire a qualified financial advisor to guide you.
This article has been written by Luke Girling, ACA – a qualified Accountant and personal finance enthusiast in the UK. Please visit my ‘About‘ page for more information. To verify my ACA credentials – please search for my name at the ICAEW member finder. To get in touch with questions or ideas for future posts, please comment below or contact me here.