Flutterwave, one of Africa’s most valuable startups, is on the lookout for a new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) after the abrupt resignation of Oneal Bhambani. Bhambani, who joined Flutterwave in 2022 after serving as CFO for American fintech Kabbage, announced his departure on LinkedIn, stating, “I wish everyone at Flutterwave the best and I will be rooting for you. Last week, I made the difficult decision to end my tenure at the company.”

Bhambani’s departure comes at a crucial time for Flutterwave, as the company is pushing for a payments and remittances license in Kenya. In September, Flutterwave’s CEO and co-founder Olugbenga Agboola confirmed that the company had received first-name approval from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).

Despite the regulatory hurdles in Kenya, Flutterwave remains optimistic about its prospects in the country. The company plans to invest $50 million (Ksh7.3 billion) in Kenya and is hiring aggressively to prepare for its expansion. Flutterwave has already poached top talent from other fintech companies like Chipper Cash and tech giants like Safaricom and Microsoft.

This year, a group of 2,468 Nigerian  Nationals obtained a court order to have 45 Flutterwave accounts in Kenya frozen alongside 10 Mobile Money Wallets. The Nigerians claimed the pan African start-up was the vehicle used to defraud them of $12.04 million.

Mr. Oneal’s time at the payments company was also marked by expansion into Rwanda as a licensed remittance company. After making his resignation public, he has not announced his next move yet. In the interim, Israel Koledowo, Head of Finance for Africa, will serve as the Flutterwave’s CFO. The company is set to begin a global search for a new CFO. Two other finance executives who joined Flutterwave from American Express’s Kabbage also left the Nigerian company last month.