This was disclosed in a news release posted
on Bento Africa’s website yesterday.
The conversation was sparked by a storypublished Monday (March 21) by Nigerian news platform TechCabal that detailed
allegations of workplace abuse at Bento, attributing the toxic culture at the
Lagos-based payroll management startup to CEO Ebun Okubanjo.
The account of insane work hours, harsh
criticism, and sudden firings touched such a nerve that a Twitter Space on the
topic lasted nearly eight hours, spilling into Tuesday morning with over 91,000
listeners having joined and many reporting issues of abuse they faced at their
own jobs.
Even Netflix jumped into the conversation,
tweeting that “Horrible Bosses 1 and 2 are now streaming sha.”
The crackdown on Ebun was a result of
alleged verbal abuse, which included unconscionable curse words, refusal to
grant leave and time off, erratic termination of appointment without due
process – essentially just deactivating their emails and Slack accounts.
He was also accused of allegedly telling
laid-off employees that they wouldn’t find work anywhere. Leave days and time
off were dismissed as a fallacy, according to the report.
Below is message from Bento
As is mandated to, Ebun informed the
Board of Directors of Bento last Thursday 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 will soon be published. As professional Investors
and Operators, we were aghast at the defensive and escalatory first tweets of
Ebun on the matter, which we quickly moved against. Our responsibility and
charter is to the Company, not the founders we invest in.
When we discovered the content of what was
going to come out, we moved to do the following:
Ensure that the current team is safe and
free to speak freely. We voided any NDA’s that may have been in place and
instructed Management to let the Team know they were free to speak to any
journalist that contacted them.
We began an active investigation into the
current workplace culture at Bento and we broadened the scope when the article
was released. We have also retained an external counsel.
We instructed that Ebun take some time off
and removed him from all people related decisions for now. Chidozie will now
lead on this 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.
We are aware of the wider impact the
conversation has sparked and we will lean into it, not just at Bento but across
our personal portfolios – there is no place in the world for a workplace that
isn’t healthy; it is unkind and does not build good companies.
Due to the ongoing investigation which is
being carried out by the external counsel, we will not be able to comment on
individual issues raised for now. We however expect it to be quick and we will
share our observations once concluded.
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.
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