Tech workers say Nigeria’s startup sector is due a work culture reckoning..
Muyiwa used to dread going to the office at the Nigeria-based software development company where he worked as a social media consultant. “My former CEO used to come to the office sometimes and berate people till they started crying,” he told Rest of World. “One time, he got angry and fired all of us; people had to go beg for their jobs back, one by one.”
This kind of experience is startlingly common in Nigeria’s booming tech economy, according to startup employees who spoke with Rest of World. In April, the Nigerian tech sector was rocked by allegations of mismanagement, harassment, negligence, and bullying at Flutterwave, a $3 billion fintech company and an emblem of Nigeria’s tech sector. Flutterwave has denied the allegations, which included questions over the financial practices of the company’s CEO, Olugbenga Agboola, and the behavior of senior executives.
In March, the hashtag #HorribleBosses trended on Twitter in Nigeria, as tech workers unloaded allegations of toxic work culture, sexual harassment, and bullying at startups in the country’s booming tech sector. The outpouring was prompted by a report in the pan-African technology publication TechCabal, which alleged that Ebun Okubanjo, the CEO of the fintech startup Bento Africa, had subjected staff to verbal abuse and arbitrarily fired employees. Bento Africa declined to comment for this story. The company’s board suspended Okubanjo and launched an internal investigation.
Rest of World has spoken with industry experts, analysts, and staff at tech companies, who said that the accusations of toxic workplace behavior, bullying, and harassment are indicative of a widespread problem with work culture in Nigerian tech: one which holds back the sector’s development and poses a serious risk for the international investors who have poured billions of dollars into the industry — even though some of those investors are refusing to acknowledge the issue.
“I think that [the revelations across the industry] are consistent with the status quo,” said Adefunke Onafuye, founder of CV Loft, a Nigeria-based recruitment company. “The work culture in Nigeria is not exactly the healthiest.”
Employment in Nigeria can be precarious. Nationwide, the unemployment rate has hit 33%, with some estimates as high as 35%, and many working adults barely earn above the minimum wage of 30,000 naira ($72) per month. Even in white-collar jobs, workers are often on contract rather than being permanent employees. The country is in the midst of an economic slowdown that has hit employment and earnings further.
However, the technology sector is booming. Competition for tech talent is fierce and international, as Nigerian workers are able to sell their skills on the global market, either by emigrating or working remotely for overseas companies. In recent years, the globalization of Silicon Valley culture has also reshaped Nigerian tech workers’ perspectives about compensation and work culture, and they often closely follow pay and working conditions in other countries.
While this should translate into better conditions for workers, employers still hold — and exercise — undue power over their employees. “On some level, it’s a talent’s market,” said Onafuye. But, she said, that only applies for a small number of more experienced people. “For everyone else, especially young job seekers, power is skewed in favor of employers.”
U.S.-based incubators and investors…
