Digital bank, Eyowo, has said it would be laying off 11% of its workforce as the company undergoes internal changes.
This was disclosed in an official statement shared via its Twitter handle on Monday. Part of the statement reads:
“We are pivoting into a financial technology platform that provides financial connectedness and intelligence for everyday money & living choices to everyone with a smartphone.
“This will mean we can deliver revenue to selected entrepreneurs and offer a personal financial and life guide to everyone with a smartphone.”
Eyowo said it would be changing its business model from being a business-to-business (B2B) company to a business-to-customer (B2C) where it would be offering its products directly to consumers and select entrepreneurs.
As such, Eyowo said it would be laying off 11% of its workforce whose work efforts are directly impacted by the new direction and changes.
What You Should Know: Last month, Nairametrics reported that The Central Bank of Nigeria revoked the license of Eyowo and 46 other microfinance banks.
According to the apex bank, their licenses were revoked because the companies either remained inactive, insolvent, failed to render returns, closed shop, or ceased to carry on the type of banking business for which they were licensed for more than six months. The CBN said this contravened the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA), 2020, and the Revised Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Microfinance Banks in Nigeria.
The company further disclosed that it would stop operations on one of its products called Kwiksll while its other product Eyowo X would undergo improvements.
“We want to prioritize providing intelligence for better decision-making to our users in their money and life choices, as such we would no longer offer the inventory capabilities of Kwiksell while its payment services remain the same”.
“This change will NOT in any way affect our product (Eyowo X) in the market and the capabilities we currently provide our users including the ongoing improvements to restore all services. It would only enhance it with more intelligence.”
In the aftermath of the revoked license, Eyowo said its customers will not be able to send or receive money from their accounts for some time as a result of the revocations of its Microfinance operating license by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
However, the company assured customers that “the CBN directive has no immediate impact on the safety of their money, nor is it connected in any way to the planned service improvements and ongoing onboarding freeze we announced.”
A few weeks ago, the CEO of Eyowo said the company would soon resume its financial services using its Payment Solution Service Providers (PSSP) as they battled with the revoking of their Microfinance Bank license.
According to him, with the PSSP license, Eyowo is fully backed by the CBN to continue providing its payment services. PSSP license allows a company to provide financial services such as the operation of payment processing gateway and portals which are utilized by merchants to accept debit or credit card purchases from customers.