From unrealistic goals like a billion dollar valuation in 2 years to overpriced office spaces, a bloated payroll and investor updates that were a farce, Olumide Olusanya is alleged to have driven Kloud Commerce into the ground and investors are pissed.
In a WeeTracker publication, investors in the company have written a petition to Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) claiming that Olusanya, popularly known as D.O fraudulently obtained and squandered investor’s money.
Having received investment from Afropreneur Angel Syndicate, Ventures Platform, Flying Doctors, Zedcrest Capital Group among others, WeeTracker reports that, in less than one year, Kloud commerce employed over 30 people, headlined sponsorship of events without actual product penetration and overworked its constantly dwindling engineering unit.
One of the events the company sponsored was the Accra Fashion week in November 2021 which revealed that its CEO was allegedly in Ghana for nearly three months living out of a hotel that cost $100.00/night. He had also reportedly set up a work team in Ghana and was paying them $5,000 monthly without much to show for it.
Apparently, the Nigerian team had not broken through with a basic product, talk more of minimum viable product before D.O took on Ghana in his mission to launch in 24 African countries and hit 150m in gross merchandise value by the end of 2022.
Co-founded by David Umoh and Frank Atashili, both men specify they are no longer at Kloud. Meanwhile, D.O’s LinkedIn profile still carries information of him being Founder and CEO of Kloud. A title former members of staff say he never made them forget. After a reportedly bad run as CEO, investors tried to restructure leadership of Kloud Commerce to co-founders and a stock option for D.O but he allegedly reneged on it.
According to the exposé on WeeTracker, it was common for Olusanya to go into a tirade and disrespect co-founders openly, and he made a point to emphasize hierarchical superiority by reiterating from time to time that he is the “Founder” while the others are “Co-Founders.” Co-founders he reportedly had a run in with eventually.
Before the Ghana event in November, there was a Nigeria event in August 2021 where Kloud Commerce had to make a presentation. Yet, not a line of code had been written for the product, a source tells WeeTracker. Engineers had shrunk by 60% and pressure which Kloud Commerce’s former co-founders had managed to keep away from the team eventually hit them, leading to mass resignations from the company. Salaries were reportedly now being owed massively and promised bonuses, an impossibility.
According to reports, the co-founders and staff had suggested the company did not attend the Nigeria event because of their unreadiness but D.O allegedly insisted. One engineer recounts the experience to WeeTracker explaining that ten engineers were camped in a hotel working round the clock for a week eating take-out and energy drinks. “One guy fainted at one point, and I fell sick afterwards with test results showing my blood pressure was high,” he reveals.
“Those guys did in less than 3 weeks what would take most organisations six months to a year to pull off and it took its toll, affecting their health and personal lives,” a manager is reported to have said. “When they complained, D.O dismissed them saying they are not kids, that they can’t expect him to teach them how to manage their time.”
This year, however, investors in the startup instituted a board and the company would cease operations . Revealing the outcome of the board, an investor said the company was >N100million in liabilities and claimed that D.O drew N4m as entertainment allowance between August and September 2021. They also allege that between June and August 2021, the Kloud Commerce founder diverted N25m meant for Kloud Commerce to Paymente Ltd., a company he reportedly controls.
He is now reportedly being petitioned to appear before the EFCC over allegations of misleading investors and fraudulently obtaining money under false pretence, misappropriating company funds, putting personal expenses on the company’s accounts, and burning investor money on expensive hotels and car rentals on dodgy trips outside Nigeria.
