An employment tribunal case has positioned Kuda Technologies, one in every of Africa’s fastest-growing digital banks, below scrutiny over allegations of office discrimination, harassment, and wrongful dismissal. Rosemary Hewat, Kuda’s former Group Chief Folks Officer (CPO), filed a criticism accusing the corporate and its CEO, Babatunde Ogundeyi, of intercourse discrimination, victimization, and unfair dismissal.
In keeping with the submitting, Hewat, who held the senior position for almost three years, claims the corporate compelled her out in April 2024 after extended mistreatment. She filed the case with the U.Ok. Employment Tribunal, and TechCrunch has reviewed the authorized paperwork.
The criticism reveals inside conflicts at Kuda, which supplies digital banking companies to thousands and thousands of consumers in Nigeria and the U.Ok. It additionally raises broader issues about office tradition, management accountability, and gender equality in Africa’s tech business.
When reached for remark, Hewat declined to debate the case, citing ongoing authorized proceedings. The total listening to is ready for October.
“It’s correct that Rosemary Hewat, a former worker of Kuda Applied sciences Restricted UK, has made an employment tribunal declare in opposition to the corporate,” a Kuda spokesperson stated in a response to TechCrunch. “As that is presently a authorized matter, we’re unable to offer any further info right now. Consistent with our present coverage and out of respect for privateness, we don’t touch upon issues of this nature involving present or former workers.
Employed in August 2021, Hewat managed international HR operations from Kuda’s U.Ok. workplace. In keeping with the submitting, she witnessed and skilled discriminatory habits that contradicted Kuda’s Variety, Fairness, and Inclusion (DEI) coverage. She alleges that CEO Ogundeyi and different senior leaders intentionally undermined her position, fostering a tradition of misogyny and intimidation.
As an example, the submitting describes an organization retreat in Lagos, Nigeria, in December 2023. Hewat claims Ogundeyi publicly berated two feminine workers, per the submitting. He allegedly known as them “low class” and accused them of missing “high quality or luxurious,” leaving them in tears. Hewat, per the submitting, insists this incident was a part of a broader sample that made Kuda’s office “intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, and offensive” for her and different girls.
The criticism additionally describes how Ogundeyi allegedly noticed himself inside Kuda. Hewat claims he repeatedly informed her that workers seen him as “God” and feared approaching him.
Hewat says senior administration excluded her from vital technique discussions, based on the submitting. In January 2023, then-COO Pavel Khristolubov allegedly left her out of a senior administration assembly, regardless that her staff dealt with resourcing selections on the agenda. When she questioned her exclusion, Ogundeyi reportedly informed her the assembly was about product technique, making her presence pointless. Shortly after, her staff was pressured to implement resourcing selections from that very assembly.
After, Khristolubov allegedly bypassed Hewat’s authority by working immediately along with her staff members, the submitting stated. When she raised issues with Ogundeyi and CTO Mutairu Mustapha, Ogundeyi reportedly dismissed them. In a efficiency evaluate, Ogundeyi allegedly informed her to “spend the following six months getting Pavel to love you.” Hewat argues within the submitting that this additional exacerbated the poisonous work atmosphere and obstructed her means to carry out her position.
By October 2023, Hewat formally proposed reviewing inside programs to handle her points with Khristolubov. As an alternative of partaking along with her issues, Ogundeyi allegedly threatened her with dismissal.
Fairness compensation dispute
On the middle of Hewat’s criticism is an unresolved dispute over her worker inventory choices (ESOP). When she joined Kuda, she claims that the corporate supplied her a number of hundred thousand {dollars} price of ESOP shares at its Collection A valuation. Nonetheless, regardless of a number of requests, she by no means acquired formal documentation.
Kuda lastly issued the ESOP grant in April 2022, however it was based mostly on its Collection B valuation, rising the inventory worth and decreasing her fairness worth, per the submitting. She claims to have later found that then-CFO Steven Bastian had efficiently negotiated to revert his shares to the Collection A worth. When Hewat raised issues, Ogundeyi allegedly dismissed her request, saying Bastian’s position was “extra necessary” than hers.
In December 2023, Hewat formally documented her issues about share allocations (and pay disparity), per the submitting. She warned Kuda that failing to handle the difficulty might represent intercourse discrimination below U.Ok. employment regulation. In response, Ogundeyi rejected her claims, arguing she had no contractual entitlement to Collection A shares.
“As a Firm we word that you haven’t supplied any correspondence (emails, letters and so on) to substantiate your claims and we assume that’s as a result of there isn’t any proof,” stated Ogundeyi to her, per the submitting. “The phrases of your employment and possibility grant are as set out in writing to you; even when somebody did counsel to you that you just would possibly obtain one thing completely different (which isn’t accepted), that doesn’t make a contractual entitlement.”
Regardless of Ogundeyi’s assurances that Kuda would examine her criticism, no formal inquiry befell, per the submitting. Hewat claims Ogundeyi rejected mediation and personally dealt with the interior investigation into his personal actions, finally ruling in his favor. She argues this violated Kuda’s grievance coverage and the ACAS Code of Observe on office dispute decision.
Hewat claims her try and resolve her issues in January 2024 allegedly worsened her relationship along with her former boss. She claims he pressured her to withdraw her discrimination criticism, which she refused to do.
Sudden dismissal and retaliation
In February 2024, Kuda abruptly fired the London-based Hewat whereas she was touring to Lagos for an Govt Committee (ExCo) retreat. She had simply attended her sister’s memorial service and was on a layover when Ogundeyi insisted on a video name. Regardless of informing him of her circumstances, Hewat claims he fired her throughout that dialog.
Kuda allegedly barred Hewat from the retreat she had flown in for, which she noticed as a deliberate try and humiliate her. When she later met Ogundeyi in individual, he cited Nigeria’s financial instability and cost-cutting measures as causes for her dismissal.
“I’m making some extreme modifications, change undoubtedly must occur…a number of character clashes and you’re undoubtedly within the thick of that,” Ogundeyi allegedly informed her. He additionally stated, “Within the UK, you’re in all probability underpaid, however for Kuda, you’re costly…what does Rosie should do to justify her wage? It’s primarily an FX factor.”
In keeping with the submitting, Ogundeyi claimed that her firing wasn’t linked to Hewat’s discrimination criticism, share allocations, or Khristolubov. Nonetheless, Hewat claims he nonetheless introduced up her relationship with Khristolubov. (Khristolubov finally left Kuda two months after Hewat, in June 2024.)
Hewat claims Kuda supplied her the identical exit phrases as Khristolubov, though he was a contractor whereas she was a full-time worker. She argues that Kuda fired her in retaliation for her office discrimination complaints, declaring that she was the one U.Ok.-based govt dismissed.
In response to a redundancy declare Kuda later filed in opposition to her, she countered that the corporate was not struggling financially, citing its means to pay Ogundeyi’s youngsters’s nanny £55,000 per 12 months, based on the submitting.
Information of Hewat’s dismissal unfold shortly inside Kuda, regardless of Ogundeyi’s alleged assurances of confidentiality. When she emailed him in regards to the breach, she claims he ignored her.
Including to the confusion, CTO Mustapha allegedly admitted that her firing was a mistake, compelled by board members Ricardo Schaefer and Andrew John McCormack. He invited her to return, however discussions fell aside after Kuda refused her settlement requests and delayed responding to her “Knowledge Topic Entry” request.
As an alternative, the corporate despatched her a proper redundancy session letter, weeks after firing her, the submitting stated. Over the following few months, Hewat claims Kuda retaliated additional by chopping off her wage, canceling her medical health insurance, and withholding her full vacation pay. Hewat, unable to tolerate the poisonous atmosphere, resigned in April 2024, citing constructive dismissal.
The ex-CPO’s authorized submitting particulars how Kuda’s actions left her in monetary hardship, as the corporate refused to pay her unpaid wages. Hewat now seeks compensation for unfair dismissal, intercourse discrimination, emotional misery, and Kuda’s alleged failure to observe correct office grievance procedures. She additionally calls for reimbursement for unpaid vacation pay and medical bills.
This case places Kuda, which has raised vital enterprise funding, together with a $55 million Collection B spherical in 2021 from traders like Valar Ventures and Goal World, below vital scrutiny at a time when African corporations are dealing with rising investor and regulatory stress to enhance governance and company accountability, sparked first by a sequence of office conduct allegations at Flutterwave, Africa’s most respected startup, in 2022.
With traders and the broader tech ecosystem watching carefully, it might even have vital ramifications for the corporate’s fame and its means to draw prime expertise sooner or later. As for Ogundeyi and the management staff, they might face elevated scrutiny over their therapy of feminine workers.
It’s an occasion that serves as a cautionary story for different tech corporations the place fast development can generally overshadow cracks in inside operations. How Kuda handles this authorized problem might form the corporate’s future trajectory, each when it comes to worker relations and its standing in Nigeria’s and the broader fintech ecosystems.