TechPression

Tag: lays off

  • Cowrywise lays off staff across departments

    Cowrywise lays off staff across departments

    Cowrywise, a Y Combinator-backed fintech startup based in Nigeria, has reorganized its staff and terminated five employees from its customer success, engineering, and marketing departments.

    A source knowledgeable of Cowrywise’s operations claims that the company justified these staff reductions by claiming that the eliminated positions were no longer in line with its changing goals. The move highlights the dynamic nature of the fintech sector and the company’s vision to stay ahead of the curve, with the spokesperson characterizing it as part of internal restructuring and adaptation to evolving business needs.

    Cowrywise, which employs fifty people, formally announced that five positions had been terminated after an annual performance review. The company distanced itself from traditional layoff scenarios by stating that these adjustments do not qualify as layoffs and are usually linked to economic or business performance concerns.

    A nameless insider with knowledge of Cowrywise’s history alluded to a change, describing the business as something “completely different” in the years to come and emphasising a move away from being a traditional fintech player and more of a finance company. The remarks made by the unnamed source highlight Cowrywise’s present decisions’ strategic and forward-thinking elements.

    The affected workers were given an unusual package when they left, receiving three months’ salary instead of the one month that was specified in their contracts. This unusual action draws criticism and indicates a change from the customs surrounding terminations based on performance.

    Read also: Nigerian salary management fintech platforms

    The growth of Cowrywise

    Established in 2017 by Edward Popoola and Razaq Ahmed, Cowrywise—a startup included in Y Combinator’s Summer 2018 batch—has experienced substantial expansion since its founding. The startup began with a savings feature and has since grown, offering its user base in Nigeria a variety of investment options. Achieving over 220,000 users and closing a sizeable $3 million pre-Series A funding round led by Quona Capital in January 2021 are noteworthy milestones.

    In 2021, Cowrywise secured a licence to function as a fund manager from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigeria’s capital markets regulator, thereby reinforcing its standing in the financial sector. According to the company’s website, investors can select from 19 SEC-licensed mutual funds, and its platform lists at least 20% of all mutual funds in the nation.

    Investing made easy with Cowrywise

    Cowrywise is a goal-oriented wealth management tool that helps users make smart financial decisions about investments and savings. The platform appeals to a wide range of users because it provides a variety of investment plans, including options for Halal investments. 

    Fintech offers a variety of investment products, such as government bonds and mutual funds, making it simple for customers to put together a diversified investment portfolio.

    Fintech places a strong emphasis on financial literacy and provides resources to assist consumers in determining their level of risk tolerance and making wise investment choices. The platform is desirable for individuals wishing to enter the investing world due to its user-friendly interface and transparent fees.

    The business provides a smooth investing and saving experience. The platform’s goal-oriented methodology aids users in maintaining concentration on their financial goals.

    Cowrywise provides a wider selection of investment options, such as bonds, mutual funds, and other asset classes. This diversity allows users to construct a well-rounded investment portfolio.

  • Smile Identity lays off 8 employees

    Smile Identity lays off 8 employees

    Smile Identity, a KYC compliance and ID verification firm with headquarters in Nigeria recently terminated the employment of eight of its staff members in what the company describes as an effort to meet its profitability goals.

    One of the most well-known names in the ID verification market, Smile Identity is a service that assists new businesses, such as banks and fintech companies, in carrying out customer identity verification processes. The corporation has verified to TechCabal that it terminated the employment of eight employees at the beginning of the month of June. 

    A portion of an email sent by the company to a media outlet read as follows: “To better navigate the changing macroeconomic landscape of the tech startup world, we decided to reduce our team size to focus on profitability and product development. We let go of 8 employees, representing less than 10% of our workforce.” 

    Read also: GitHub to implement remote work policy, 10% layoffs

    Response to the development

    Given that the company had just announced the successful conclusion of a $20 million Series B round of funding in February of 2023, many people are going to be taken aback by the decision to lay off employees. According to a source, Smile Identity stated that the cash would be used to increase hiring efforts in East, Southern, and Western Africa in keeping with the company’s goal of expanding further throughout the African continent. Appruve, an identity verification software company based in Ghana, was purchased by the young company in April 2023. This move allowed the company to spread its footprints across Africa and strengthen its position as the African continent’s premier identity verification and digital KYC supplier.

    Why Smile was established

    Smile Identity was founded in 2017 with the intention of making it simple for people of African descent to confirm their identity no matter where they are in the world. During a trip to India, the company’s cofounder, Mark Straub, realised how challenging it was to provide evidence of one’s identity. After some time had passed, he revisited the issue while he was touring throughout Africa. He saw an opportunity to assist Africans anywhere in the globe in simply proving their identities, and given that India was still in the early phases of implementing Aadhar, he regarded this as a perfect time to do it. The concept of constructing a Smile Identity originated from this point forth.

    Canada announces innovative immigration tech talent mechanism for Africans 

    Smile Identity is now working on developing new tools and software that will completely change how millions of people in Africa can verify and confirm their identities online. The artificial intelligence and identity verification solutions offered by this company have a rate of accuracy of 99.8 percent and have been tailored specifically for use with African faces.

    Chipper Cash, Paga, Paystack, Twiga, and Opay are just few of the numerous enterprises in Africa that use the technology developed by Smile Identity. The technology is also used by a great number of other businesses.

    Smile Identity has established itself as a leading competitor in the Know Your Customer (KYC) market in Africa. The company was co-founded by American entrepreneurs Mark Straub and William Bares. Four years after its initial introduction, Smile Identity is currently operating in six different markets across Africa, including Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Rwanda, and Uganda. It conducts more than a million identification checks on a monthly basis and has verified a total of 250 million IDs for its customers, who include Paystack, Binance, Kuda, Paxful, and Chippercash, among others.

  • Bolt lays off 17 Nigerian workers to restructure company operations

    Bolt lays off 17 Nigerian workers to restructure company operations

    Bolt, a ride-hailing platform which currently operates in more than 20 cities in Nigeria, has announced the layoff of 17 out of 70 employees currently working for them in Nigeria. The layoffs reportedly resulted from operational adjustments to foster better performance within the company. According to a report, this recent decision would affect most of the junior and mid-senior members of the operations team as well as city managers.

    Commenting on the situation, Ireoluwa Obatoki, Bolt’s Regional Manager for West and North Africa said “Bolt had to terminate work contracts with 17 of its employees in Nigeria due to an initiated strategy to improve our operational processes in the country. This was certainly not an easy decision to make, and we completely understand the frustration of the affected employees.”

    However, affected workers claim the company reneged on a promise that there would be no layoffs. Although an anonymous source claims there have been rumours of restructuring making rounds in the organization since last year, it was believed that it would merely involve team reshuffling, the creation of new roles and departments, and shuffling the deck chairs. The laid-off workers voiced their disappointment that the meeting, which they mistook for an announcement of new teams, was really to notify them that they were being laid off.

    Read also: Nigerian fintech CredPal partners with Bolt to let users “ride now and pay later”

    17 Nigerian workers to leave Bolt

    Severance packages were presumably distributed to departing workers proportionally to their cumulative years of service to the company. Employees with one year of service were given one month’s severance, those with two years of service were given two months’ severance, and those with less than one year of service were given one-half of their monthly wage as severance.

    In its announcement, Bolt said it “offered the affected employees an additional three months of health insurance and three months of access to psychological support and a career coach to help them navigate the transition to new employment opportunities.” Moreover, the layoffs run counter to the company’s recent promise to expand its presence on the African continent by creating more jobs and committing to an investment plan worth $530 million.

    As some of the company’s best hands are among those who were laid off, some of the affected employees have said that the layoffs were not based on performance but rather on redundancy. One of the affected workers at Bolt is mystified as to where the redundancy could be coming from.

    Bolt Expands Its Operations in Ghana with the Addition of Tamale

    Moreover, it is important to note that the layoff that occurred in Nigeria is in contrast with the company’s commitment to further create employment and expand its presence in Africa. Recently, Bolt CEO Markus Villig announced the company would be investing $500 million in its operations in Africa. This funding would be targeted to expand Bolt’s presence in the region and pave the way for more than 300,000 new drivers and couriers to join the Bolt platform by 2023. Having completed 1 billion rides in Africa and anticipating a driver count of over 1 million within the next six months, Bolt is reiterating its dedication to long-term investments in local communities.