Six days ago, Condia first broke the news about Okra’s restructuring and, ultimately, the CEO’s exit. Afterwards, multiple sources claimed that the five-year-old startup had shut down and was dead. However, that was never accurate, hence why we didn’t report it.
Okra is not dead. While its nine-month-old cloud services business, Nebula (by Okra), is no more, the company’s main payments business is undergoing a restructuring.
Three days ago, Fara Ashiru, Okra’s former CEO and co-founder, clarified on LinkedIn: “As Okra enters a new chapter, the company is undergoing internal restructuring with a renewed focus on scaling its payments business (more to come on this) [emphasis ours],” she said. “As part of this shift, Nebula (by Okra)—our cloud services business—has been sunset.”
While details of the company’s restructuring are still to come, sources suggest that Okra is exploring new backers and partnerships as part of its transition. The move is expected to streamline operations, improve agility, and allow for targeted investment in product development and customer growth.
Digital payments in Nigeria are experiencing exponential growth, driven by rising mobile adoption, a youthful population, and regulatory pushes towards a cashless economy.
SponsoredOkra started life in 2020 as one of the startups bullish on open banking’s take-off in Nigeria. However, the regulatory directive and ecosystem adoption have been slower than expected. This forced many open banking-native companies to slow down investments in that regard and seek alternate paths.
For instance, South Africa’s Stitch now positions itself as a full-stack payment gateway that processes card transactions. Nigeria’s Mono has since doubled down on payments via its WhatsApp-based payment solution, OWO, to complement its suite of offerings.
Okra Technologies Limited (Okra) did well to secure Nigeria’s coveted PSSP licence from the Central Bank. Thereby increasing the value of its payments business to potential acquirers who would have to acquire the company to get access to the licence.
The startup’s decision to double down on its payments infrastructure positions it to serve as a critical enabler for startups and SMEs seeking faster, more reliable transaction capabilities. If completed, the company could cement its place as a foundational layer in Africa’s evolving fintech stack.
Editor’s note: Important context has been added regarding Okra’s payment licensing status.
