Abuja, Nigeria – Na so Fara Ashiru Jituboh, di co-founder and former CEO/CTO of Okra, one of di biggest fintech startups wey don dey shine for Nigeria, don japa from di company wey she help establish. E happen just few months after di launch of Okra’s cloud service, Nebula, wey dem bring out as solution to rising cloud costs. E be like say dis fintech matter no too sweet for Okra as dem quietly wash away all operations in May 2025.
If you get small gist, you go sabi say Fara don jump enter another waka as di Head of Engineering for Kernel, a British startup. For her LinkedIn, she don talk say di company decided to wind down operations, and she show gratitude to di community, customers, and investors wey support dem for di past five years. Na wah, dis fintech journey no easy o!
Before Jituboh waka come off Okra, she and her padi, David Peterside, establish di company in 2019 to create APIs wey go help people connect their bank accounts to third-party apps securely. E no be small tin o, as Okra don raise more than $16.5 million from investors like TLcom Capital, and dem succeed to be one of di first wey pioneer di open finance paradigm for Africa.
As dat one no go straight, Peterside don already drop his own bag since 2022, and now dem still dey look for who go replace Jituboh. Dis one go raise eyebrow for di fintech space, as dis exit na major sign of wahala wey dey ground. Okra been get plenty big dreams – na dem wan expand reach all di corners of Africa. But di wahala no stop, as rising FX and cloud service costs don chop dem money well well.
Di naira wey don dey behave like say e don catch cold na another wahala wey dey ground for di cloud service market, as e don make bills dey high. Dem set up Nebula last year to combat dis issue and offer cheaper naira-denominated alternatives to di likes of AWS. But despite di ambition, na wetin dem dey call ‘headache’ linger on top dis cloud service matter.
Jituboh don sabi wetin e mean to dey run tech for Africa; she don work for big names like Canva, BMW, and JP Morgan. Her story na real motivation for many young startups wey dey checkout how to enter di tech wey dey grow fast-fast for Africa. Even as Okra don shut shop now, her vision and drive no go just fade away. Dem dey talk say new leadership go soon land for Okra, but di journey wey Jituboh take so far still be like movie for many padi dem.
So, make we dey watch how all dis fintech wahala go unfold, as Fara dey carry her bright light for Kernel, probably ready to shine brighter. E be like say di future dey bright for dia! Na so life be for tech world, sometimes you dey rise, sometimes you dey fall, but one thing we go always for sure: na talent dey flow like palm wine from Africa to di global stage. Let’s raise our glasses to dat!
