After a notable stint at Flutterwave, Bode Abifarin, the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), has announced her resignation, marking the departure of yet another finance executive from the fintech giant within the past few months.
With a dedicated service of six years at Flutterwave, Abifarin has decided to step down to focus on empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs, driven by her deep-rooted passion for this cause. Prior to her role at Flutterwave, Abifarin accrued over 15 years of valuable experience at KPMG Nigeria before venturing into the fintech space in 2018 as its COO.
During her tenure, Abifarin played a pivotal role in steering Flutterwave through a transformative journey, culminating in a significant milestone in March 2021 when the company announced a groundbreaking $170 million Series C funding round, catapulting its valuation beyond the billion-dollar mark.
In a LinkedIn post, Abifarin expressed her gratitude to her colleagues and the community, highlighting her future endeavors of using her voice and expertise to nurture new businesses, focusing on education, and sharing her insights with the wider community.
“In this next phase, I will be sharing a lot more using my voice and my pen. I will continue to nurture new businesses and focus on building, teaching and education. There are a lot more things in the pipeline and I’ll inform you as we go. Thank you for staying with me and being part of my journey,”
Abifarin’s departure follows the recent exits of Oneal Bhambani, the former CFO, Oscar Lan, former Global Head of Strategic Finance and FP&A, and Rebecca Mendel, Controller, in November 2023, after their tenure of a year and six months at Flutterwave.
These departures come amidst heightened scrutiny following revelations that Flutterwave’s founders were subject to a 2017 fraud investigation, as revealed by investigative journalist David Hundeyin. Additionally, Flutterwave faced allegations of insider trading and fraud in May 2022, leading to the hiring of Bhambani as CFO, who previously served in a similar capacity at American Express.
Further challenges emerged for Flutterwave in July 2023 when the company faced accusations of money laundering in Kenya, resulting in a court authorizing the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) to freeze accounts totaling over $40 million linked to Flutterwave. However, in November 2023, the Kenyan High Court granted the ARA’s request to dismiss its final lawsuit against Flutterwave, signaling a conclusion to the legal proceedings.
