Ebun Okubanjo, chief executive officer of Bento, has resigned from his role at Bento following a series of events, with the latest being a fraud allegation.
Okubanjo revealed his resignation in an email to investors, hinting that he would now proceed with Ada AI, an AI-powered sales assistant. His resignation follows the most recent accusation against the company. Bento allegedly failed to remit pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) deductions for some clients.
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According to Akintunde Sultan, co-founder of AltSchool, Bento failed to remit PAYE and pensions while providing fake receipts stating it had done so. Meanwhile, the Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS) has allegedly launched investigations against the startup.
“I started to confide in some of you early last year that our thesis was not working. We did change it to something more pared down, but it is time for me to journey on. If Africa adopts the Western style of taxation and remittances, these companies are gold mines,” Okubanjo said in his email to investors.
Okunbanjo had previously stepped down from the company. As claims of toxic environments serenaded the internet, he briefly stepped back from his role in 2022.