Bento laid off its 10-person tech team on Friday after they protested founder Ebun Okubanjo’s decision to delay January’s salaries, according to three people familiar with the matter. The abrupt layoff came one week after the company was accused of failing to remit millions of naira in taxes and pensions and forging tax receipts for Lagos State customers. Okubanjo resigned on January 30, despite denying the allegations and in a statement purportedly sent by investors, the company claimed it was in the process of retrieving credentials from Okubanjo.
However, at least two investors told they did not see that letter.
Despite Okubanjo’s apparent resignation, he continued communicating with Bento employees on January 31. It is unclear if he addressed the issues with employees who became worried when he informed them their salaries would be “strategically delayed” until they processed all pending payroll for customers.
“It’s January, and everyone is going through it financially,” an affected ex-employee wrote in a Google Chat message reviewed by . “Even amidst all the chaos, we’re still here working without knowing where the company is headed. The team has collectively agreed to halt all operations until we get paid,” the same employee wrote.
Okubanjo emphasized Bento’s history of prompt salary payments, even for short-term employees. He claimed the delay was a strategic measure anticipating resignations due to the ongoing controversies. When employees refused to get on with work, Okubanjo treated the protest as resignations, deactivating the employees’ work emails without pay.
He claimed the employees were attempting to force his hand and offered to divide the withheld salaries among any employees willing to stay and process payroll. “If we end up with two employees making 3 million each, that is it,” he stated in the Google Chat messages.
No one took up his offer, three people with knowledge of the situation said.
“I don’t work for Bento so I am unable to respond on its behalf,” Okubanjo said in a statement to .
Bento’s now laid-off tech team consists primarily of young engineers in the early stages of their careers, most having been with the company for a little over a year. The last of the founding tech team resigned in 2024, one person claimed.
Friday’s abrupt layoffs have stalled Bento’s operations, particularly with payroll processing for its customers. The company, which had previously automated salary disbursements, has had to manually process payments since 2024 due to issues with payment processors and underfunded accounts. “With all the engineers gone, there is almost no one to run payroll,” said one employee.
However, in an email to customers, Bento claimed it intentionally halted transactions to facilitate a transfer of platform credentials from Okubanjo to an interim overseer.
A Bento employee who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals said he only learned about the allegations about forged tax receipts on social media and was worried about the impact on his career.
“I even took the company off my LinkedIn for a while,” said the employee, who spoke anonymously for fear of reprisal. He claimed other employees shared his concerns but were also shocked when Okubanjo deactivated their work emails.
