Fintech firm Cellulant is having some kind of crisis. Cellulant Nigeria limited, a FinTech company is in deep crisis that has led to the co-founder’s resignation as 14 staff members got sacked. This information is an anonymous tip from an insider that shared how the CEO of Cellulant Ltd, Bolaji Akinboro, and his team lost its chances of being Africa’s number one FinTech company, and other situations that follow.
According to the source of this information, the Cellulant Nigeria Ltd was a company that practiced ill working ethics while the board that was supposed to be keeping a close eye on the company’s operations beset its corporate governance by permitting unhealthy practices that led to the termination staff and the downfall of the FinTech company Cellulant Nigeria Ltd that recently got the largest investment in Africa.
Cellulant Nigeria Ltd started an agricultural platform called the Agrikore marketplace, which got many investors’ interest. Agrikore is a blockchain-based digital marketplace connecting agriculture stakeholders including governments, farmers, merchants and financial institutions.
Agrikore marketplace is a Cellulant service that raised about $47.5m in new funding making the startup arguable the biggest blockchain based Fintech company on the continent. Agrikore I a blockchain based marketplace that connected agricultural stakeholders like the government, farmers and investros mong others. But as of three weeks ago, after the resignation of the CEO Cellulant Nigeria Ltd, Bolaji Akinboro, the company had to notify its partners about the termination of Agrikore which serves about 7 million farmers across the continent. At its peak, the startup got support from the millions of farmers across the entire continent because it was meant to support farmers with raw commodities and the provision of infrastructure to boost farm produce.
Cellulant Nigeria stated on its company’s site Agrikore connects stakeholders and services providers to farmers and the unbanked. The platform currently encompasses over 15 million farmers’ records.
The news about the recent events of the FinTech company that had a graceful potential is very problematic, raising concern about the crash of the developing Agrikore platform that has the support from framers and manufacturers who were aiming at food security that has always been the greatest threat to the livelihood of billions of people. The issue raised concerns about the termination of the FinTech startup and everything related to the company if it is in the result of mismanagement of funds, unsettled leadership contest, or what else could it be?
According to media reports, a Cellulant insider confirmed that the ex-CEO Bolaji Akinboro was always concerned about Africa’s development, he was passionate about making Africa a better place through agriculture, education, and healthcare industry but something went wrong but as we learn more, we will be updating this report.
The Cellulant Nigeria Ltd was established in 2014 with Bolaji Akinboro as its CEO, and Ken Njoroge (a Kenyan entrepreneur) occupied the Co-CEO position. In the history of FinTech industries in Africa, Celluant Nigeria Ltd was probably the biggest one out there, it raised $47.5 million Series C round from Velocity Capital, The Rise Fund, Endeavor Catalyst and two other investors. It’s sad because Cellulant and its investors were looking at a possible IPO in future but we’ll see what happens assuming the board can rescue the company’s reputation.
