In Nigeria’s bustling startup ecosystem, funding rounds are often celebrated with great fanfare, and founders are hailed as trailblazers of digital transformation. However, failure remains a topic seldom discussed. The recent shutdown of Okra—a once-prominent API fintech startup—has sparked fresh conversations on how founders should exit when their venture comes to an end.
Okra: A Rising Star in Africa’s Open Banking Revolution
Okra, founded in 2019, was positioned as a leader in Africa’s open banking revolution. Its simple yet powerful proposition: secure APIs to connect bank accounts with digital services, modeled after Plaid. For a time, the startup thrived. Backed by heavyweight investors like TLcom Capital, Susa Ventures, and Base10 Partners, Okra raised over $16 million, secured notable clients such as Bamboo and Renmoney, and reported impressive API growth.
The Quiet Exit: No Announcement, No Closure
But then, quietly, it all came to an end.
Okra’s sudden closure, confirmed by co-founder and CTO-turned-CEO Fara Ashiru Jituboh, was marked by an eerie silence—no blog post, no farewell statement, no clear explanation for investors or the public. “The company decided to wind down operations in May,” she explained to Techpoint Africa, after her LinkedIn role changed to Head of Engineering at UK-based Kernel. Co-founder David Peterside had already departed the company in 2022.
What followed was a wave of uncertainty. Sources revealed that Okra is in the process of returning unspent capital to investors, potentially as much as $4 to $5 million of the $16.5 million raised, though no official numbers have been shared.
The Pivot That Didn’t Pay Off
The closure didn’t come out of the blue. In 2023, Okra pivoted from open banking to cloud infrastructure—a move necessitated by Nigeria’s foreign exchange crisis, rising cloud service costs, and the need for local cloud alternatives to global giants like AWS and Azure. This pivot resulted in the creation of Nebula, a Naira-denominated in-house cloud platform.
“We’ve built a cloud here, for us, and it’s just as good—if not better,” Ashiru had claimed in March 2025. But insiders argue that this pivot came too late, was overly ambitious, and lacked sufficient funding. Competing with global titans is a Herculean task, and doing so amidst Nigeria’s patchy infrastructure and unstable currency was a nearly insurmountable challenge.
Now, Nebula, too, has been shut down.
The Silent Shutdown: A Missed Opportunity for Communication
For many in the Nigerian startup ecosystem, it wasn’t Okra’s closure that caused concern, but the silence that followed. Investors, employees, and supporters were left without a roadmap or any post-mortem. In a landscape where failure is still considered taboo, this lack of closure and transparency is all too familiar.
“Once again, a high-profile startup failure has been handled with minimal communication,” wrote Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, founder of Future Africa, in a widely shared post. “But amid the noise, no one is addressing the fact that this exit was poorly managed from a communications perspective.”
Aboyeji, who has invested in over 100 startups, didn’t hold back. “I’ve seen too many founders try to exit quietly, leaving investors guessing, employees blindsided, and the public left to create its own narrative.” His advice was straightforward: “Leave through the front door. Own your story.”
Empathy for Okra’s Decision: A Different Perspective
Not everyone shares this view. Uwem Uwemakpan, Head of Investment at Launch Africa Ventures, offered a more understanding perspective. “Returning capital when the future is uncertain isn’t failure; it’s integrity,” he said. “Sometimes, the bravest thing a founder can do is know when to step away.”
Indeed, returning unspent capital is rare in Africa’s early-stage startup world, where transparency is still evolving. A few startups, such as Thepeer in 2024, have made attempts, but even that was fraught with complications. In Thepeer’s case, returning $500,000 of the $1.6 million raised led to investor demands for a forensic audit.
Okra’s capital return seems to be going more smoothly, though investors have remained tight-lipped about specifics.
Why Failure is Still a Taboo in African Startups
Okra’s quiet exit has led to deeper reflection on how Nigerian startups handle failure. While global tech giants have embraced the idea of productive failure, with open retrospectives and public lessons, the African startup ecosystem still treats failure as something to be ashamed of.
Why? Part of the issue is cultural; part of it is the fear of reputational damage. Founders are often reluctant to publicly acknowledge failure, fearing it might hurt future fundraising efforts or their public image.
But this silence has its own consequences. It damages investor trust, hinders community learning, and erodes morale. More importantly, it prevents the development of a culture of resilience that is essential for an emerging ecosystem like Nigeria’s.
Could Okra Have Handled Things Differently?
Absolutely. While the company was well within its rights to wind down and redistribute capital, it missed an opportunity to lead by example. A well-crafted exit story—one that acknowledged challenges, took ownership of decisions, and provided clear accounting—could have solidified its legacy, rather than obscuring it.
As Aboyeji pointed out, “If we want more founders to take risks and build ambitious companies, we need to show them that failure is not the end. There is dignity—and even pride—on the other side of failure.”
A Call for Dignified Exits in Africa’s Startup Boom
The Okra saga reveals an uncomfortable truth: for Africa’s startup boom to be sustainable, it must not only focus on successful launches but also on dignified exits. Founders must communicate openly. Investors must demand accountability—not just profits. And the ecosystem must recognize failure as part of the journey, not a shameful secret to hide.
