Kendall Ananyi, CEO of Tizeti, an internet service provider, has voluntarily stepped down pending the determination of a sexual harassment allegation levelled against him by a former mentee.
In a revised statement the company issued on Monday, Tizeti said it would be conducting an independent investigation. The company had issued a statement on Sunday afternoon in which it announced the investigation and the replacement of Ananyi. The statement was however deleted and a new one issued after the embattled CEO took to Twitter to exonerate himself.
“We want to re-affirm that we take all allegations of harassment, discrimination, or misconduct of any kind, very seriously and will be conducting an independent third-party investigation into this,” the new statement said.
The mentee whose name is Kelechi Udoagwu had on Thursday in a Twitter thread, accused the CEO who is married of pulling out his private part and putting it in her hands during one of their mentorship classes.
The mentorship session was organised by Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) Africa.
“He wasn’t a staff of MEST. He visited as a Guest Speaker. Our friendship had been purely platonic and professional till that afternoon,” Kelechi, who tweets from the handle @anti_ratrace, said. “I could barely assimilate and react that this was really happening cos I had put the guy on a pedestal and knew about his wife.”
Her allegations drew wide condemnations almost immediately from many leaders and brands in the tech community including MEST Africa.
The Pan-African training program, seed fund and incubator, said it was committed to its policy of zero tolerance for sexual harassment and assault both in-house and within its community.
“We will stand behind you and help escalate action if you wish. We have privately DM’d you as well,” the statement said.
In its letter confirming the temporary sack of Ananyi, Tizeti named Patricia Aiyedun, current CFO and Ifeanyi Okonkwo, current COO as the interim co-CEOs effective immediately.
“Tizeti continues to be fully committed to high ethical standards, gender equality and making sure our diverse team feels safe, valued and comfortable at all times,” the company said in a statement.
In his defence, Ananyi said he never had a MEST mentorship-mentee relationship with Kelechi.
“MEST can easily verify this from their records, however, Kelechi and I did meet at a MEST event in Accra during which I addressed MEST cohorts. Kelechi and I never had any mentorship session and I never sexually harassed or raped her,” he wrote.
Founded in 2010 by Ifeanyi Okonkwo and Kendall Ananyi, Tizeti has so far secured $5.1 million in over three rounds of funding from investors including Y Combinator; Western Technology Investment, Social Capital, Vy Capital, Picus Capital, Ace & Company, Lynett Capital Partners, Zeno Ventures and a number of angel investors including Y Combinator’s Michael Seibel and Gabriel Hammond.
