Cellulant, a pan-African fintech company, announced a mediated out-of-court settlement with its co-founder, ex-co-CEO, and former head of its Nigerian operations, Bolaji Akinboro, after two years of litigation. Akinboro has been cleared of all allegations of financial misconduct and personal improprieties laid against him two years ago.
Akinboro, who co-founded Cellulant with Ken Njoroge in 2004, was compelled to step down in August 2020 after being accused of improper conduct at Agrikore, a blockchain-powered agritech subsidiary he oversaw, which resulted in the dismissal of 48 employees.
Akinoboro and many of the impacted personnel refuted Cellulant’s allegations that the fired employees had improperly obtained money from Agrikore wallets, and they later filed a lawsuit to contest it.
The African startup industry has seen a number of shocking developments this year. There has been a lot of news ranging from several reports of a terrible work environment to charges of financial wrongdoing and money laundering.
Bento’s board of directors declared earlier this year that the company’s co-founder and CEO, Ebun Okubanjo, would no longer be involved in personnel matters after an exposure of how Okubanjo had created a poisonous work environment at the company.
The co-founder and CEO of Risevest resigned and took on an advising role as a result of recent probe findings of sexual misconduct.
Olumide Olusanya, a three-time founder and CEO of Kloud Commerce, was reportedly facing compensation from investors, according to a Weetracker investigative piece, after damaging the firm with a number of financial misdeeds.
Given that the majority of the accusations we have seen so far this year alone have been either confirmed to be genuine or accepted without challenge, it is a positive development to see at least one of them be publicly retracted by the party making the accusation.
“I acknowledge and commend the courage demonstrated by the Board of Cellulant in publicly setting the record straight on all questions and aspersions that have arisen in the past two years regarding my exit from Cellulant, and putting to rest any notion of wrongdoings from my part,” said Akinboro.
Africa already appears to be a difficult ground for international investors to stroll on because of shaky government policies, fluctuating foreign currencies, and very low purchasing power. The ecology would suffer greatly if amateurish and sloppy founders were added. Entrepreneurs are builders, and for the continent to be a sustainable contributor to global growth, it needs its builders more than ever.
