WeJapa CEO Favour Ori, the Nigerian co-founder of the tech recruiting startup, has been forced to step down after investigations confirmed allegations against him for breach of contract, underpayment and high-handedness.
The allegations were made against Mr. Ori on social media by a number of self-proclaimed developers contracted by WeJapa to build its platform.
Ori was also in hot soup a few months ago for defrauding a WeJapa hackathon winner and not paying some of the Nigerian developers on the platform.
Following the allegations and a barrage of social media backlash, WeJapa engaged law firm, Calmhill Partners to mitigate the dispute on behalf of the company’s investors/stakeholders.
Calmhill just concluded its investigations and publicly shared the resulting report.
In response to the report, WeJapa also published a series of Tweets detailing its next steps moving forward.
The tweets read, “We’re writing to give an update on the independent investigation into alleged misconduct on the part of former WeJapa CEO Favour Ori.
The investigation, led by @calmhill_legal, found some gaps in our internal processes for contracts and payments. We sincerely apologize for failing to provide a fair working environment for our developers.
During the investigation, @calmhill_legal reached out to 31 individuals and found 4 that had concerns while working on a project at WeJapa. Of 4 claims, 2 claims have been settled and we are actively working to resolve the last two outstanding claims since receiving the reports.
Concerning the incidents that occurred outside of Favour’s role as CEO of WeJapa, @calmhill_legal identified 2 claims. One claim has been resolved and Favour is working to resolve the other.
We are taking immediate action to rectify this situation and are working with a law firm to improve our internal processes for contracting and payment to meet industry standards. Our mission is still to empower the tech community with Jobs and we want to do it right.
Effective today, 19th October, 2020, Favour will step down as CEO and assume the role of CTO. During this time, he will focus on improving his interpersonal and people management skills.
Hauwa Aguillard, Co-founder and acting CEO, will take on the role of CEO and handle all interactions with developers and clients.
We thank everyone who called us out. We made mistakes and are committed to doing better. We strive to continue to play a role in supporting Nigeria’s developers and the wider tech ecosystem.
We ask that you give us the opportunity to experience a new WeJapa, as we work to be a resource to the community. Thank you”