Oneal Bhambani on Tuesday announced that he has stepped down from his role as the chief financial officer (CFO) of Africa’s ldeading payments company, Flutterwave.
“Last week, I made the difficult decision to end my tenure at the company,” he declared via his LinkedIn page.
“Thank you to Flutterwave for a seat on its journey to scale payments across Africa… I wish everyone at Flutterwave the best, and I will be rooting for you,” he added.
Bhambani joined Flutterwave in June 2022 from American Express and Kabbage where he served in the same role.
His appointment happened after the company secured a $250 million Series D at a valuation of over $3billion.
Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, founder and CEO of Flutterwave, announced Bhambani’s appointment at the time saying:
“His track record of operating finance to enable scale and innovation with listed company standard financial controls will help us accelerate our growth as we continue to meet the needs of our expanding global customer base.”
Bhambani’s appointment seemed imperative at the time as the company had just been rocked by allegations of financial misconduct.
He did steady the ship through a major storm of fraud allegations in Kenya and the company has since returned to blooming activities.
Earlier this year, Agboola said that the company was moving forward with plans for an initial public offering (IPO), which it first publicly indicated in 2022.
“The timing of the listing will be determined by many factors. Currently, we’re dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. Like any company in our position, we consider multiple strategic opportunities. I can’t share any details regarding listing venues,” Agboola explained.
Bhambani’s exit represents the most high-profile exit from Flutterwave since 2018. That was when its co-founder and then CEO, Iyin Aboyeji, left the company.
Two other employees in the fintech’s finance team; who joined Flutterwave from America Express have also resigned. Rebecca Mendel and Oscar Lan resigned last month as well, according to their LinkedIn.
These departures raise major questions and concerns about the fintech, and its IPO plans.
