You’ll recall that earlier in May we announced to you that OPay layoff about 70% of its staff, and this includes both Chinese nationals and local employees.
Just this afternoon, Opay announced that it would be shutting down some of its business units (for now) to focus only on financial technology services.
The business units that have been put on hold by the company include all its ride-hailing platforms (ORide and OCar), as well as OExpress, it’s delivery business.
OPay blamed the development on the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a recent regulation by the Lagos State Government which banned commercial motorcycles across much of the Lagos metropolitan area.
Opay also noted that ride-hailing companies around the world have particularly been hit hard by the pandemic which caused rippling economic effects across the world. The company said it foresaw the negative impacts of the pandemic and had already begun restructuring long before now.
Over the last five months, OPay has faced serious challenges operating its non-fintech verticals. The company offers payments services, a mobile wallet, investment, and lending services to users. However, in the mass market, its original growth enabler was its transport verticals.
With the shutdown of its food delivery and transport verticals, OPay is turning its focus to e-commerce and its existing fintech services. In March it quietly launched OMall, a B2C online store, and OTrade, a B2B store for merchants.
As a full-fledged fintech firm and already a major player in the space, Opay will now continue to compete with the likes of Paga, Paystack, and even Flutterwave.
Effect of COVID 19 is just unbearable. Grounded everything