The board of Bento, Nigeria’s digital payroll and human resource management platform, has asked the CEO Ebunoluwa Okunbajo to step down, over allegations of workplace abuses.
In a post on the company’s blog, the board said it instructed Ebun to take some time off. He was also asked to not be involved in any people related decisions for. Chidozie Okonkwo, co-founder of the company has been asked to lead the company as CEO, along with the country managers and functional heads.
“We are reviewing the HR and People practices and guidelines at Bento and will work with HR consultants and the company’s in-house team to make sure that it is reflective of human values that drive sustainable performance,” the board noted in the post.
Former staff of the company had in a report by TechCabal alleged that the CEO was subjected to verbal abuses and making the workplace at Bento toxic and unhealthy for them, a reason many of them left the company.
Following the report, Nigerians took to social media to condemn the behaviour of Ebunoluwa and CEOs in other tech companies.
According to the Bento board, the embattled CEO had informed the directors that he had been asked to comment on an article about the workplace culture at Bento and that he expected that something of material impact would be published by TechCabal.
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In a later post, Ebunoluwa denied the allegations and accused the media platform of being unprofessional.
BusinessDay was not able to get him to comment on the development as several messages sent to his email did not receive any response. However, sources say ebun is currently in the United States where he is holding up to enable the company to manage the public crisis.
He also reportedly called for a staff meeting at 10:45pm to apologise to his staff members upon realising the impact of the bad publicity on his personality and company.
Bento was founded in 2019 and has since expanded to Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda, with plans to set up operations in six other markets in Africa over the next year.
The board said it has engaged the services of an external counsel who will carry out further investigation and advise the board on next steps. All staff members are also allowed to speak to press as previous NDAs have been voided.
“There is no place in the world for tyranny and we will ensure Bento becomes the leading voice for the transformation of every workspace into psychologically safe spaces that allow all employees thrive,” the board noted.
