Flutterwave CEO addresses allegations of financial impropriety, conflict of interest and sexual harassment

Flutterwave CEO, Gbenga Agboola has finally made a statement concerning the recent allegations against him and the company, made in an investigative report by David Hundeyin published exactly 8 days ago, 12th April 2022. The report titled “Flutterwave: The African Unicorn Built On Quicksand” painted a story of fraud, perjury and insider trading inside the darling African unicorn.

According to Gbenga Agboola (GB) in an email to his staff made available to 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.”

“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.”

It is surprising that GB as he fondly called, took this long to respond to the allegations even after he and the company were dragged on social media for quite a while.

Former CEO Iyin Aboyeji even responded three days ago to some of the allegations in an interview with TechCabal as his own name was also dragged into the matter. In fact he also talked about the Medium post by Clara Wanjiku, an ex-employee of Flutterwave and current CEO of Credrails.

Clara’s Medium post was published a couple of days before David’s report. She talked about how she has been constantly belittled, lied about, harassed, had her name tarnished and almost arrested because of Olugbenga Agboola the CEO of Flutterwave.

Iyin said David Hundeyin did not reach out to him on the Flutterwave matter before publishing the article. Earlier in the week, he put out a number of tweets, distancing himself from any involvement in the allegations levelled at Agboola and Flutterwave. He said, in one of them, that some of the allegations made could prevent him from being a company director, and thus affect his livelihood.

Agboola’s response to the allegations

About his involvement in Flutterwave while still working in Access bank in its early days, Agboola said in the email that “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.”

Another the issue levelled against Agboola was that of Insider trading. It was reported that Agboola created an investment vehicle that cashed in on share prices sold below the company’s valuation to employees who had stock options, especially before a fundraising round.

Agboola said neither he nor Flutterwave has engaged in insider trading, saying that ex-employees sold shares they owned to outside parties at some points.

“We followed all legal processes and procedures, including obtaining board approval when needed, when approving the sale of shares,” he mentioned. “In addition, we work closely with our outside law firms to stay in compliance with all applicable regulations.”

As per issues related to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Agboola stated that in 2017, the SEC had an inquiry with which Flutterwave fully complied, and he’s unaware of any ongoing SEC investigation into the company’s activities.

On the issue of Agboola and CCO Ifeoluwa Orioke having sexual relations with several female employees and harassing some, Agboola wrote;

“We have previously investigated employee sexual harassment allegations (including those made against me, and of which I was cleared) and terminated employees who have been inappropriate towards team members. We have had independent third party reviews which gave birth to the We Hear You and whistleblowing policies that you all know of today. We have always had a zero-tolerance policy [to] sexual harassment and we will continue to take action when necessary. No exceptions.”

Gbenga Agboola however did not respond to three allegations levelled against him in David Hundeyin’s report.

• that Agboola created a fictitious co-founder and CTO identity called “Greg” to allocate more shares to himself (even though he was the major shareholder) in the company’s early days;
• the accusations that Flutterwave performed fraudulent activities — with investors’ knowledge — against its clients and
• the ongoing court cases it’s facing from Odero and another employee, who, according to the report, is suing Flutterwave for not offering her stock options after almost three years working at the company in a senior role

GB finally stated in the email that the company would carry out necessary action to improve its culture, which looks tainted at the moment in the eyes of the public.

This includes improving its HR policies while working closely with audit and advisory firms, taking a survey of employees — particularly female employees — to get feedback on their experiences in the company, an “inclusive workplace training,” increasing mental health resources, and providing more transparency.

“We have made some significant changes to how we communicate transparently in the organization on compensation, promotions, etc.,” the CEO wrote. “In addition, all members of the executive leadership team will hold monthly open hours for staff at all levels. This will be a time for us to hear directly from all of you and what we can be doing to be continuously improving.”

Agboola also said he would be visiting every Flutterwave office on the continent, along with his leadership team, to have “one-on-one” chats with employees by the end of the year.

He ends the email by saying;

“I know this is a lot to take in! We will have more conversations to discuss all this in greater detail. I want to hear from you all and answer any questions you have.”

“I’ll end by saying that when we started the company in 2016, our mission was to simplify payments for endless possibilities for businesses, consumers, and especially our customers. That remains our mission, of which all of you are a crucial part in making a reality.”

“I will always put Flutterwave first. And Flutterwave is all of you. Like I always say our people are the secret sauce of Flutterwave and I mean that.”

“…Thank you for reminding me that to whom much is give, much is required. I will live up to your expectations of me.”