Tech in Africa
In a statement, OPay confirmed the pause of some of its services, ride-hailing OCar and ORide, and OExpress. Ride-sharing businesses across the globe have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company was forced to undergo restructuring as it shifts away from rides.
The Nigeria-based fintech startup is backed by Opera and has a B2B – B2C eCommerce presence. Services such as OTrade and OMall will remain operational. The company intends to focus on financial services until pre-existing market conditions change for the better.
According to OPay, its main profitable business is fintech, which is digital payments and mobile money. Despite the setbacks, the Chinese-backed startup maintains that it’s well-oiled financially and remains profitable. Around 2 months ago, there were rumors of a potential mass layoff in the company, but that remains unverified. Many await to see how the company will fare in the Nigerian market as it marks the third year of operation.
OPay is playing a lead role in the fight against COVID-19 by donating PPE equipment. They donated over 100,000 masks to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital in their contribution to the #MasksForAllNg campaign. Other donations of 150,000 medical face masks were given to the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board and 50,000 masks to the Ogun State Hospital Management Board.
