Paystack, an African payments provider, laid off staff in Europe and Dubai and scaled back operations outside of Africa. This choice is a result of efforts to streamline, especially in regions where the business has historically employed technical positions to support its main African activities.
Paystack’s CEO and co-founder Shola Akinlade noted in a tweet on last week Thursday that the company had laid off 33 workers. After being acquired by the American fintech company Stripe, Paystack opened operations in Accra, Cape Town, Dubai, and Nairobi to broaden its reach. The establishment of an engineering hub in Dubai and the hiring of personnel in Europe through remote operations supplemented this expansion. Before these advances, Paystack already had offices in Lagos and San Francisco.
Paystack is a Nigerian fintech company that provides payment processing services to businesses in Africa. Founded in 2015 by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, and was acquired by Stripe, a global payment company in 2020. Paystack offers tools to help businesses retain and acquire customers, such as subscriptions, invoicing, and verification.
Paystack currently operates in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa, and it plans to expand to other African countries in the future.
Akinlade announced what he called “a hard day at Paystack.” He said that the company is offering a severance package that includes four months’ salary, accelerated equity vesting, and health insurance extended by three months. He also said that he is personally happy to vouch for each one and do reference calls as needed. He also created a form for interested employers to contact the affected employees.
In an attempt to save expenses, parent company Stripe let go of 14% of its staff, which is exactly one year ago when Paystack experienced layoffs. Over the past three years, the company, which is known for its lean operations, has added a moderate number of staff members and released a number of products as a result.
Based on substantial study, Paystack’s growth plan takes into account variables such GDP, card penetration, population size, and the strength of the startup and developer ecosystem. With a strategic eye on supporting sub-regional growth, they concentrate on establishing areas that act as regional hubs. Further, they have intentions to expand into North Africa and are currently in early beta in Francophone Africa.
