- South African entrepreneur Sibongile Maputla founded fintech platform Squirrel Away in 2025.
- The platform converts family gifts into savings earmarked for children’s future expenses such as education and housing.
- Squirrel Away targets financial inclusion by simplifying digital savings for families without advanced financial expertise.
South African technology entrepreneur Sibongile Maputla founded Squirrel Away in 2025 as a digital platform designed to reshape how families give gifts and build financial security for children.
The platform operates as a value-based gifting solution. Family members and relatives can direct each contribution toward a specific financial objective for a child. The platform aims to gradually build savings that children can later use for education, housing or early adulthood expenses.
Squirrel Away focuses on ease of use. The platform allows users to create an account, add a child or beneficiary and send or receive financial contributions as gifts.
The company designed the service for users without advanced financial skills. The platform also integrates savings into celebrations such as birthdays and family events.
At the same time, Squirrel Away promotes a broader educational and social objective. By transforming gift-giving into an investment activity, the platform encourages children and families to adopt savings habits at an early age and strengthen long-term financial preparedness.
Maputla also serves on the investment committee of the Altvest Credit Opportunities Fund.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in statistics and economics from the University of Pretoria in 2001. She later obtained a master of business administration degree from Wits Business School in 2019.
Maputla started her professional career in 2000 at Standard Bank Group, where she worked as a foreign exchange trading trainee.
In 2002, she joined Coronation Fund Managers as an equity broker. She later served as chief operating officer at Benguela Global Fund Managers between 2016 and 2021.
Melchior Koba
