When OurPass secured its pre-seed funding in September 2021, its stated ambition was to become the “Fast for Africa.”
Yet, the company it sought to emulate — Fast, which raised over $120 million and generated $600,000 in revenue that year — ceased operations less than a year later. Ironically, OurPass shuttered its one-click checkout business at bout the same time.
Founded in 2020 by Samuel Eze, Gbeminiyi Laolu-Adewale, and Rogers Mugisa, OurPass began life as ParkCrowdy, an e-commerce platform that also included a one-click checkout feature.
Sources, however, note that the one-click checkout never really saw much traction despite claiming to have processed $500,000 as of the time it announced its pre-seed round.
As one source put it to Techpoint Africa, “One-click checkout was only one-click checkout on paper.”
The business banking pivot
With one-click checkout seeing little traction, OurPass turned to business banking for a second lease at life. Work on the business banking platform began in 2022, with the startup officially announcing a pivot in April 2023.
“With a mission to create a borderless world of successful businesses, we are committed to making it easier for businesses, irrespective of size and location, to gain access to banking services, but we are not stopping there. We are also providing them with access to all the payment and business management tools they need to grow and thrive,” Eze said at the time.
With its pivot to business banking, the startup said it would provide bank accounts, POS terminals, payment services, inventory management, and payroll services for small and medium-sized businesses in the country.
A pilot was conducted with Spar, one of Nigeria’s largest supermarket chains, and OurPass provided point-of-sale (POS) terminals at its Ilupeju outlet. However, the startup never got to processing all of the chain’s business.
A partnership with Flutterwave powered its POS terminals, enabling it to provide businesses with virtual account numbers. Flutterwave reportedly provided POS terminals to the startup, powering its backend but allowing OurPass to present them as OurPass terminals.
The business banking feature showed some promise, but the partnership with Flutterwave soon broke down. Sources say the partnership broke down due to breaches on OurPass’ part. Regardless, the startup continued using the privileges provided by the partnership long after it ended.
An OurPass representative disputed the claims, referencing a recent case study published on the Flutterwave blog and suggesting that the two companies continue to maintain a working relationship.
Flutterwave declined to comment on any aspect of this article.
OurPass has since expanded its services to include personal banking services, but has also seen slow traction as it now competes with more established startups like Kuda, OPay, PalmPay, and Moniepoint.
Leadership failures and a toxic culture
Employees who spoke to Techpoint Africa on the condition of anonymity described Eze as an unpredictable and erratic leader. Co-founders Mugisa and Laolu-Adewale left the startup in 2023 and 2022, respectively.
While Mugisa declined to comment on the nature of his exit, Laolu-Adewale did not provide a response to our enquiries as of press time.
“Sam would make a promise one day and contradict himself the next,” a former employee said.
“He’s a bully,” another former employee said. “He will be the one to sabotage an idea and still blame you for it.”
Once, an employee refused to carry out a request by a customer, as they were constrained by regulations. The said customer was familiar with Eze, and after reporting to him, the employee was laid off.
Another employee noted that Eze was often comfortable indulging in actions that could put the company at odds with regulators.
It’s unclear how much acceptance OurPass’ business banking proposition had, but its app has been downloaded over 10,000 times on the Google Play Store. Furthermore, Flutterwave’s case study claims that OurPass had processed at least a trillion naira between 2021 and 2024, 80% of which went to small businesses.
In the past year, though, both business and personal banking customers have reported difficulties withdrawing from their accounts.
Inside the company, the workplace was reportedly marked by mistrust. One former employee revealed that Eze discouraged employee camaraderie, reportedly rewarding those who spied on colleagues. Attempts by newly hired experts to implement plans were often overridden or dismissed by Eze, undermining morale and productivity.
“Sam is the type of person to make a lot of promises to you and fire you in the end,” a former employee claimed.
“The day after salaries are paid, you can expect him to come to the office, and things could get really hot for employees. The people who bore the brunt of his behaviour were the sales and HR teams,” another employee said.
In 2023, OurPass hosted the US Consul General at its office and reportedly redecorated the office, hoping the visit would lead to investment. One former executive claimed that Eze would frequently overrule decisions they had made without any input from them, while they were expected to be responsible for the outcome.
While only a few people were ever fired, employees claimed that Eze would rather make life unbearable for executives until they resigned. There were also claims of verbal abuse, with leadership meetings often leaving some executives in tears.
On Glassdoor, the startup has a 3/5 rating, with 63% of employees recommending it as a good place to work. Some reviews describe it as a toxic environment with no structure, late salary payments, and an overbearing CEO.
When the business began struggling, Flutterwave reportedly made an offer to acquire the company, but on the condition that Eze stepped away from the business, an offer that he reportedly turned down.
Flutterwave again declined to comment on this claim.
Delayed salaries and layoffs
In 2024, OurPass underwent layoffs in its customer service team through a confusing process where employees were asked to resign voluntarily, only for the company to later rehire for the same roles.
One former staff member described the process as a purge of more experienced employees, fuelling concerns about internal management decisions.
In February 2025, OurPass failed to meet payroll on time, an occurrence many employees say was rare. But despite repeated meetings and promises of payment, staff went unpaid, and Eze remained unreachable. With no word forthcoming about when they would get paid, employee morale dropped, with some choosing not to go to the office.
Eze reportedly called a meeting where some employees were asked to choose between working without pay for a few months or shutting down the business altogether, promising a $10,000 payout once new funding arrived.
Employees were unconvinced, having seen him fail to communicate with them for a few weeks. While some employees began slacking off, others quietly left the startup.
Despite repeated requests for comments, OurPass failed to provide a comprehensive response as of press time.
