HO Corn, the now disgraced agro-investment platform that pledged to pay investors 50 percent return on investment (RoI) in its 30,000-hectare corn farm project has left its investors traumatised after failing to honour payment of almost six months after they first fell due.
After failing to meet up with an October 30 deadline, the second time in a row, the HO Corn had sent a mail to its over 30,000 investors saying it has begun paying investors from 30 October and plans to complete the full payout by 30 December. But investors say they have not been paid and are now wondering if the company was set up to game hapless Nigerians seeking high yield vehicles for investment.
In an October interview, the company said the payment will come in full rather than be split.
According to one investor, “there is now real concern that from get go, this company set out to dupe Nigerians.”
Sola Ogunbayo, an investor who spoke to BusinessDay, said, “I suspect that he (HO Corn CEO) paid those who are aggressive on Twitter.”
Activism against the company has picked up on social media in recent days with many investors taking to Twitter to demand that HO Corn fulfill their obligation. The agitations have also received the attention of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).
“There has been a surge in complaints against crowdfunding platforms and aggregated investment noteholders,” Babatunde Irukere, CEO of FCCPC tweeted on Saturday. “We are engaging some already and will scale this up, including working with relevant regulators in that space. It’s tricky because investors are not consumers.”
HO Corn told BusinessDay on Sunday through its consultant that payments have not been paused, but are ongoing.
“As I speak, operations are ongoing in the farm and the CEO is also there ensuring all is well,”Prince Mohammed Kolawole, Business Development Consultant for HO Corn told BusinessDay.
While he disputes claims that between 6-10 people have been paid so far, he is unable to say the exact number of people that received payment neither would he say what category of investors they are.
But Faith, one of the investors who got their money, is convinced only a few people were paid.
“We don’t know if they just used it as a strategy to make people believe they’re paying,” she told BusinessDay.
Although the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a regulatory document for crowdfunding platforms earlier in the year, it is unclear whether enforcement has begun. Agro-business platforms have yet to confirm they have started complying with the regulatory document.
