Elizabeth Kariuki to act as CEO as Paul and Eddie Ndichu resign from Wapi Pay after scandal

October 20, 2021 Staff Writer CSR, News 0

The effects of the scandal surrounding the founders of Wapi Pay continued to be felt across the startup and fintech ecosystem with various stakeholders in the firm coming out to express their position.

First was Kepple Africa Ventures which announced that because it has zero tolerance on issues related to gender-based violence (GBV), it had relinquished all the rights of its investment stake in Wapi Pay.

Afterwards, of course a few hours later, the Wapi Pay board announced that Paul Ndichu (CEO) and Eddie Ndichu (the Executive Director) would relinquish their positions in the company.

In the interim, Elizabeth Kariuki (pictured top), the firm’s Chief Operations Officer, has assumed the role of CEO.

https://twitter.com/wapi_pay/status/1450481469680402435?s=20

As a follow up to the escalating PR disaster for the Kenya-based fintech, the main investor in Wapi Pay’s $2.2 million funding round, EchoVC Partners, also came out out to express its position on the unfortunate incident. However, EchoVC seemed to be playing safe based on how it statement has been framed.

A message to the community re: the incident involving Paul and Eddie Ndichu. pic.twitter.com/CRDRqYuFBM

— EchoVC Partners (@EchoVC) October 19, 2021

In a personal statement, Eddie said he was saddened by the incident and that relevant authorities are handling the matter, promising to cooperate with them.

“For now, I have taken some time off to reflect on this embarrassing and unfortunate situation and will cooperate with all stakeholders to ensure a speedy conclusion of the matter,” he said.

https://twitter.com/endichu/status/1450487457040977923?s=20

The announcement of Ndichu brothers stepping aside comes a few hours after Eddie stepped down as a board member of the Association of Fintechs in Kenya following the scuffle.

The Board of the Association of Fintechs in Kenya stated that it had taken note of the unfortunate allegations made against Eddie. “On the 19th of October the Board convened a special meeting during which Ndichu stepped down as a board member pending formal investigations into the matter,” the association said in a statement.

“The Board takes this opportunity to state that it regrets the current circumstances and does not in any way condone gender-based violence or violence of any kind,” the statement read.

Wapi Pay had earlier on defended its co-founders, stating that the two found themselves in a confrontation that they wanted to neutralise and defend themselves from certain aggressors.

The company termed the incident “unfortunate and distasteful” adding that it does not support any form of GBV.

“To be clear Paul and Eddie got involved in an attempt to neutralize a confrontation between two women and to defend themselves from certain aggressors,” the company said.

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