Thrive Agric appoints Adia Sowho as interim CEO to manage payout crisis

A lot has been happening to Thrive Agric in the last couple of days owing to the current payout crisis in the company. The company has been unable to pay returns on investments made by subscribers. The subscribers took to social media to vent their anger even when the company said that the reason for the late payment was the COVID-19 pandemic.

So the company has made some organisational changes to steer the business out of her current challenges and prepare the company for the future. It announced the appointment of Adia Sowho as interim CEO to manage the current payout crisis. Before now, Adia was the Vice President for growth at fintech startup Migo and Director of Digital Business at 9 Mobile (Etisalat Nigeria).

According to a statement from Uka Eje, the co-founder, Adia is “to guide Thrive Agric through a turnaround exercise so that we survive the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the business.”

“Adia has a lot of experience with building businesses from the ground up and shaping them to operate at scale. I asked her to support us, recognizing that she has the required expertise to move us past this period successfully.”

An Important Note from Uka Eje to our Dear Thrive Agric Subscribers and Stakeholders. 💚💚 pic.twitter.com/Uv7KnEwmpP

— Thrive Agric (@thriveagric) October 8, 2020

Uka said he will be stepping down as CEO for the interim, and assuming the position of COO where, in addition to the attendant duties of the role, he will be Adia’s understudy.

He also mentioned that the company has also appointed a CFO who comes with significant experience in finance, a risk management and compliance head and additional legal representation.

Some of the affected subscribers issued an ultimatum (See below) to the company to respond to the issues affecting their payment. They alleged that they were being owed up to about N50 million ($129,000)

@thriveagric, you have 5 days (starting today Monday, October 5, 2020) to respond. You'll be duly served in your office too. We can't continue to pretend all is well. Nothing is well. Our legal representative will be in touch. pic.twitter.com/nVnh5wV4UE

— Minister, ọmọ Akínyẹmí (@theprincelyx) October 5, 2020

Ventures Platform , one of the investors in the business, had earlier in the day issued a statement on the same issue.

Over the last few weeks, much has been reported about the challenges Thrive Agric has had throughout the COVID-19 crisis, and how these challenges have, unfortunately, adversely affected some of their crowdfund subscribers. However, what might not be so apparent is the work being done behind the scenes, to rectify and repair the situation, by ensuring subscribers are repaid in a timely manner. 

Thrive Agric is one of Ventures Platforms’ portfolio companies; we invested in the agritech start-up in 2017. As early-stage investors, we take our role in how our portfolio companies operate and their overall corporate governance, very seriously. Once alerted to the fact the company was facing some operational challenges, Ventures Platforms’ experienced senior management team and hired consultants intervened, working with the Thrive Agric founders to put in place deliberate and swift actions, to not only ensure repayment of investments to subscribers but also to realign the business for the long term. 

Together, with Thrive Agric, we identified that one of the core issues was around sub-optimal communication between the company, its subscribers and additional stakeholders. 

Working with the Thrive Agric Team, Ventures Platform has overseen the improvement of communication through the following: 

1. Communication to subscribers via email, with a more complete explanation of how COVID-19 impacted farming operations with an expectation of repayment horizon 
2. The commencement of active communications with concerned subscribers, via Zoom calls 
3. The release of a robust FAQ online via Twitter which addresses many of their subscribers’ and stakeholders’ key concerns 

We are sufficiently happy with this important first step, and expect a more open and transparent line of communication between Thrive Agric and interested parties, in the coming weeks and months. 

Additionally, Ventures Platform has also taken some important strategic steps with the Thrive Agric management team, including: 

1. Engaging actively with the founders to develop and implement a step-by-step plan to get the company back on track;
2. The ordering of a thorough review of the company’s financial and non-financial operations to fully understand the scale of the problem;
3. Supporting the company in strengthening their senior leadership such that they can frontally deal with these issues. The Thrive Agric team will communicate more on this very soon; and 
4. Providing bridge debt to help liquidate some of the outstanding to subscribers. 

The actions we have taken alongside the Thrive Agric team, in this short period, are already yielding some small successes; but we know there is a lot more to do. 

Whilst a lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to deliver these results, we are fully aware that the hard work starts here – and we will continue to push the entire Thrive Agric team, to return investments to subscribers, and rebuild the trust that has been lost in what has been an extremely challenging year. 

We hope that this would truly help in managing the crisis.