Paystack, a Nigerian fintech company that offers premium services to businesses, has announced the difficult decision of reducing operations in some African countries and the layoff of 33 of its staff in Europe and UAE.
This was revealed in a tweet by the company’s CEO, Shola Akinlade who said the goal of the company over the past three years has been reverted and a new operation model adopted to fit into its local environment even better.
Akinlade wrote, “We’re reducing our operations outside of Africa, and will be parting ways with up to 33 employees in Europe and UAE. In the last three years, our hiring philosophy was to recruit great talents regardless of location”
He assured those affected by the reduction various compensation packages for their dedication, encompassing a four-month salary, three months of healthcare insurance, and expedited equity vesting.
The company’s reason for the layoff according to Akinlade was to localize cost and get closer to customers in the local market.
“In Nigeria, there has been a continuous devaluation of naira by more than half since the first half of the year and in Kenya it’s second market, the shilling fell by 20% in comparison to this time last year” he explained.
In its other countries of operations like Ghana and South Africa, their currencies continue to suffer devaluation which causes their economy and businesses to suffer.
Last year, Its parent Company Stripe was reported to have laid off 14% of its workers in November. In June this year, more were further relieved.
The company made this difficult decision at a point where Paystack is seeking to expand its services and make good use of the rise in electronic payments in Nigeria.
More on the company
Paystack was launched by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi in 2015 and became the first Nigerian company to get into the Y combination in November that same year. It later expanded into other African countries like South Africa, Ghana and Kenya in 2021, 2018, 2023 respectively.
It was then purchased by Stripe, the Irish-American payment platform for $200 million in 2020 to further scale its operations in Africa. And also launched the Pay with Apple pay in 2021.
