A former employee of Nigerian-based payment solutions provider Flutterwave has levelled claims of bullying and fraud against company Founder and CEO, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola.
Clara Wanjiku (@WanjikuClara) claims that since leaving the company in 2018, she has had a bitter back and forth altercation with the CEO whom, she alleges, has gone as far as using Kenya’s Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to harass her.
Wanjiku who worked as the company’s Head of Implementation says that trouble began when she decided to quit the company and asked for her dues upon the termination of her contract.
“A lot of things happened and in the end, I felt like I was not being treated well and rendered my resignation.” She writes. “I asked GB repeatedly to have my dues settled and he ignored me. I informed him I was going to get a lawyer, which he saw as a threat.”
Wanjiku claims engaging a lawyer sent company executives into panic mode and they started making frantic calls to negotiate an amicable settlement.
“The Flutterwave COO Bode Abifarin was asked to resolve my claims and during calls to me and my lawyer mentioned a Twitter account.” Wanjiku continues.
She further alleges that the said Twitter account was set up by unknown persons to discuss claims of sexual harassment meted by male executives at Flutterwave. The former employee says she had no affiliations with the Twitter account and is not privy to the sexual harassment allegations levelled against the company’s leadership.
According to Wanjiku, her afflictions escalated after DCI claimed she was wanted for Mpesa fraud alongside unmanned persons of Nigerian nationality.
“While on a work trip to Ghana in May 2019, my mother called me and told me the police were at her office saying I was involved in some Mpesa fraud with Nigerians. She wasn’t coherent because she was obviously scared but I knew it was Flutterwave before she finished the call.” She narrates. “I had to go to the Department of Criminal Investigations with a lawyer to sort it all out. Neither Flutterwave nor their CEO was of any assistance.”
Wanjiku says she sued the company for wasting her time and being negligent with her data. She was awarded a settlement she felt was too small and has since appealed in a case that’s still pending in court.
“I am sick of it, to be honest. It has been almost 5 years of constant bullying, trying to malign my name and just make my life more difficult. All of it stemming from me deciding to leave, ask for what is fairly mine AND ask to be compensated for Flutterwave’s negligence.”
Flutterwave is one of Africa’s fast-growing fintech companies offering a myriad of payment solutions to businesses. The company facilitates cross-border payments for all levels of businesses across Africa through a single Application Programme Interface(API).
The company has its headquarters in San Francisco and Lagos. Flutterwave has benefited from a series of funding rounds over the last couple of years. With a valuation of about $3 billion, it’s cited as the highest valued African startup.
Clara is currently the CEO and Co-founder of Kenyan women-led open finance infrastructure startup Credrails.
A seed-stage startup founded in 2020, Credrails delivers the infrastructure that connects Bank, mobile money, and offline data into a single API to power the next generation of fintech solutions. The startup’s API gives developers the ability to build revolutionary products with open and robust access to rich data sources. In addition, its solutions promote interoperability across services, leading to faster and more affordable movement of money around Africa and beyond.
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