Panel concludes sexual assault investigation against Risevest former CEO Eke Urum

Eke Urum, the co-founder, and CEO of Risevest, a well-known Nigerian-based stock investment platform, quit his position in August as the firm began an investigation of misconduct allegations against him.

Risevest said in a statement that Urum was under investigation for potential power abuse and sexual misconduct.

A three-person investigative team was formed according to Risevest, to look into the matter. Tomi Davies of TVC Labs served as the panel's chair. Dunoluwa Longe of TLP Advisory served as the group's legal advisor, and Toun Tunde-Anjous of The People Practice served as the group's people and culture advisor.

According to the panel assembled in August, it concluded that Urum had abused his power and engaged in sexual misconduct.

The evidence submitted to the panel, according to Risevest, could not establish that Eke Urum committed sexual assault. However, the panel's review of the material, which included admissions of having a sexual relationship with an employee as well as inappropriate, offensive remarks and chats, revealed sexual misbehavior. It also revealed a pattern of power abuse, intimidation, retribution, and bullying of junior employees by Urum.

Urum said in a tweet on Thursday that while the investigative panel did not find the sexual impropriety allegation to be true, they did find it convincing.

“The case of sexual impropriety they found credible was a joke that was not even sexual in its context but which someone with enough motivation could interpret that way. Because the sexual impropriety matter was based on an entirely subjective perspective and out of respect for the recipient and, indeed, to ensure corporate sanity, I immediately took responsibility for it, Urum said. “I want to reiterate that I never had any sexual relations with an employee, and I did not sexually assault or harass anyone.”

The panel advised against Urum being reinstated as CEO, maintaining interim CEO Tony Odiba until the board names a new CEO.

Urum will become a non-executive member of the newly constituted board, where he will direct the startup's investment strategy and offer technological advice.

The new board of directors will include Urum, Tony Odiba, two shareholder representatives, and one independent member.

Urum has promised to help Odiba even if he won't take on the CEO position he previously had. Urum is still a non-executive director of the startup. He expressed regret for his acts as well.

About Risevest

Bosun Olanrewaju, Eke Urum, and Tony Odiba founded Rivest in 2019. Africans are now able to participate in international business ventures thanks to the startup.

The startup received its most recent funding in March 2021 from an undisclosed seed round. A $120,000 seed round from July 2020 is the company's only announced funding source to yet. Risevest was one of four fintech startups whose accounts were frozen for 180 days by the Nigerian central bank in August 2021. At the time, Risevest's Telegram learning community had more than 12,000 users. This was supposedly done to prevent the naira from depreciating against the dollar.