When Flutterwave launched in 2016, the fintech company quickly became the poster child for African startup success stories. In 2021, it achieved unicorn status, reaching a valuation of more than $1 billion, and in 2022, after raising $250 million, it secured a $3 billion valuation.
CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola was celebrated for his leadership and lauded as a trailblazer in African fintech, providing digital payment services for businesses across the continent.
Then later that year, came a flurry of damaging allegations of workplace bullying and accusations of money laundering in Kenya, which sent shockwaves through the industry. At the time, Flutterwave denied financial impropriety, said it had tried to solve a harassment claim amicably, and had a zero-tolerance stance on bullying — but the company’s reputation took a hit.
However, Agboola says Flutterwave has weathered the storm and emerged stronger than ever.
In November 2023, Kenyan authorities cleared the company of all money laundering allegations. Additionally, a former employee who sued the company for reputational damage and emotional distress lost her appeal seeking $900k although the initial $2,500 previously awarded by a Kenyan court was upheld.
In his first major interview since the allegations, Agboola told CNN that Flutterwave is on a mission to rebuild trust and strengthen its governance practices.
“Trust is the business we’re in,” Agboola said. “We’ve been working tirelessly to regain that trust.”
“We have worked on our corporate governance, infrastructure, compliance system and that’s what we are going to keep doing as a company and part of that is why we brought Mitesh in,” he added.
In September, Flutterwave announced it had appointed Mitesh Popat, a former Citibank executive with a wealth of experience working on the continent, as its chief financial officer.
“The important thing for me, coming from a very structured, very regulated bank, and transitioning into a startup, was about striking a balance so that I can bring enough structure into the company so that we are responsible to our banking partners, our investors, regulators and clients, while still maintaining that level of agility required of a startup to continue to innovate and grow,” Popat told CNN.
Local media has reported that Flutterwave has also had to deal with security incidents. The company said in a statement that it is “committed to doing our part to ensure the security of the financial system in Africa,” giving the example of its partnership with Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crime Commission, and adding that it has “invested heavily in ensuring the highest level of security across all our products and have a team of world-class talents across finance, risk, legal, and compliance and certifications.”
Bawo Egbakhumeh, a senior compliance and anti-money laundering specialist not connected with Flutterwave, is well-versed in governance and operational challenges faced by growing companies.
She says Flutterwave’s fast growth exposed weaknesses in governance, compliance, risk management strategies and inadequate internal controls. “Its early success, which was focused more on customer service delivery, outpaced the company’s ability to implement strong internal structures, vulnerability to fraud and poor governance oversight,” Egbakhumeh told CNN.
But she added that in recent years, “Flutterwave seems to have responded by tightening its governance, improved compliance programs with more focus on accountability and transparency.
“Global partnerships and investor pressure likely pushed the company to make necessary reforms and adherence to improved governance standards,” she said.
A unified Africa
Agboola says that in the last year, the company has secured new payment licenses in Ghana, Zambia, Uganda and Rwanda, and more than 20 in the United States through a major partner bank, facilitating cross-border transactions from the US to Africa.
While the company has previously talked about plans to IPO, Agboola says the company is “focused right now on expansion and deepening the company’s market penetration in enterprise payments.”
“IPO is one of many growth opportunities on the table, and we continue to put processes in place to be well-prepared for that next phase of our growth,” he added.
Beyond the focus on governance and structure, Agboola envisions a future where Africa’s diverse payment systems are seamlessly integrated into a unified marketplace. “Africa today is not a country, but we want to make it feel like one,” he said.
Agboola highlighted the challenges of navigating the continent’s fragmented payment systems, like M-Pesa in Kenya and bank transfers in Nigeria, which complicate cross-border transactions.
“A money transfer from Nigeria to Ghana could take up to three days,” Agboola explained. “Our mission is to ensure that businesses and consumers can transact across borders as effortlessly as they do within them.”
Based in San Francisco but still heavily focused on the African market, recently, the company partnered with MainStreet Bank, unlocking access to 49 US states and allowing seamless cross-border transactions for African businesses through its Send App, Agboola said.
He added that this collaboration, coupled with the integration of American Express into Flutterwave’s payment network, represents a significant win for African businesses, enabling them to reach millions of new customers globally.
“These partnerships are game-changers,” Agboola noted. “With MainStreet Bank, we’re not just connecting Africa with the US; we’re facilitating faster, more reliable payments for merchants and consumers across both continents.”
Beyond partnerships, Flutterwave is also investing heavily in new technologies like AI to enhance its payment infrastructure.
“We are committed to staying ahead of the curve by leveraging AI to improve our compliance, monitoring and risk management,” Agboola said.