Alex omenye
African payments giant Flutterwave has laid off about 30 employees, approximately 3% of its workforce, as part of a strategic realignment towards its core revenue drivers: remittance and enterprise services. This shift, which began three months ago, also led to the shutdown of Barter in March.
Flutterwave confirmed the layoffs to TechCabal but did not provide specific details about the affected teams. “After a thorough analysis of our strategic priorities, including a renewed focus on enterprise customers and remittances, we concluded that some roles within the organization are redundant,” Flutterwave stated.
The announcement was made during a town hall meeting on Monday afternoon, according to two individuals with direct knowledge of the matter. The layoffs primarily impacted roles related to products that Flutterwave is no longer pursuing.
“We will pay an average of three months of gross salary, depending on the country where the employee is based,” Flutterwave said. “We will also be monetizing their unutilized accrued leave days.”
In October, Flutterwave highlighted that enterprise services were its biggest revenue driver, while retail products contributed minimally to revenues. This focus on enterprise and remittance services has led to necessary workforce adjustments to align with the company’s strategic goals.
“Since our founding eight years ago, we have not had to implement a workforce reduction plan, but it became necessary to align our current resources with our go-forward strategy and improve our operational efficiency,” the company said.
Following a reshuffle of its C-suite executives in 2024, Flutterwave has revived discussions about a potential public listing, which had been delayed in 2022 and 2023. CEO Gbenga Agboola emphasized the company’s long-term vision in an April 2024 interview with Semafor. “Right now, our goal is to be IPO-ready, ensuring we have the right corporate governance in place and are operating well. We want to be a long-term company in Africa, for Africa – and so the goal is building the right infrastructure to be here for the next ten-plus years,” Agboola said.
