Risevest founder and CEO, Eke Urum has been found guilty of sexual impropriety and abuse of power. Urum was suspended in August after allegations o
Risevest founder and CEO, Eke Urum has been found guilty of sexual impropriety and abuse of power.
Urum was suspended in August after allegations of sexual and non-sexual abuse by a staff.
A three-man panel made up of Tomi Davies of TVC Labs as Chairperson; Dunoluwa Longe of TLP Advisory as Legal Adviser and, Toun Tunde-Anjous of The People Practice as People and Culture Adviser was set up to begin investigation into the matter.
A statement by the company said the six-week probe could not establish sexual assault.
However, the evidence showed “sexual relations with an employee; unwanted, inappropriate jokes and conversations revealed sexual impropriety”.
The investigation team interacted with nearly 60 former and current employees before reaching its decisions.
The panel recommended that Urum should not be reinstated as CEO.
Tony Odiba, the acting CEO, will remain in the capacity until a substantive chief executive officer is appointed.
Urum is now a non-executive board member and will lead the firm’s investment strategy and provide guidance on technology.
“I regret the distraction that my actions may have caused and fully respect the integrity of the process the Risevest investors and the panel underwent”, Urum told TechCabal.
Founded in 2019 by the trio of Bosun Olanrewaju, Eke Urum, and Tony Odiba, Risevest, a startup allows Africans to invest in foreign investment opportunities.
In August 2021, Risevest, which then had over 12,000 people present in its Telegram learning community, was one of four fintech companies whose accounts the Nigerian central bank froze for 180 days for engaging in speculative trading that allegedly weakened the naira against the dollar.
Two months later, in October, the company overturned the order.
