By John Ikani
Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola has, for the first time, addressed financial and personal misconduct allegations leveled against him and the company, assuring employees that the fintech unicorn has “no tolerance for sexual harassment.”
However, the fintech founder did not admit any wrongdoing or apologize in an email to employees obtained by Techcrunch.
“I’m writing today because I want you to know how concerned I am about the impact that reading the false allegations against our company has had on you all,” he wrote.
“The fact that the allegations of financial impropriety, conflict of interest and sexual harassment have been proved false or have already been reported, investigated and addressed by management matters less to me than the reality that these claims may have shaken your confidence in the company. As founder and CEO, it is my responsibility to address the concerns you may have, and this will be a priority for me moving forward.”
Agboola’s email comes days after Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin detailed how the company’s founder and CEO, Olugbenga Agboola, allegedly carried out multiple misconducts ranging from fraud and perjury to insider trading and sexual harassment.
The report came days after Clara Wanjiku Odero — an ex-employee and current CEO of Credrails — published a Medium post and a series of tweets on April 4 accusing the company and its CEO, Olugbenga Agboola, of bullying her in the past.
It’s been a week since these allegations from the West African Weekly came to light. At some point, it was believed that Flutterwave wouldn’t address them publicly. For most, the delayed response was a terrible look and spoke to a weak company culture that might lead to more tea spilled.
What Flutterwave and Agboola didn’t address
In the email, Agboola didn’t respond to some allegations but told employees, “the allegations about how I started the company are untrue. I shared with you during the retreat that a former boss helped us close one of our enterprise clients. I am thankful for the learning and mentorship I received at the numerous employers I worked at before starting Flutterwave.”
“We followed all legal processes and procedures, including obtaining board approval when needed, when approving the sale of shares,” he wrote. “In addition, we work closely with our outside law firms to comply with all applicable regulations.”
Agboola’s email to employees failed to address allegations of creating a fictitious co-founder and CTO identity called ‘Greg’ to allocate more shares to himself. The Flutterwave chief executive also failed to address accusations of Flutterwave performing fraudulent activities — with investors’ knowledge — against its clients.
Lastly, there were no statements on the ongoing court cases from ex-employees Clara Wanjiku Odero and another lady, who, according to the West African Weekly, is suing Flutterwave for not offering her stock options after almost three years working at the company in a senior role.
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