The last couple of months have seen many tech companies, both local and international, let go of their employees. The dismissal has been in terms of thousands. So far, it has been projected that more than 120K workers have been let go in the tech industry.
Some of the companies that have fired a substantial number of workers include Meta, Amazon, Twitter, and Netflix. Soon, Google will be doing the same thing too. Even worse is that announcement of more cuts keeps coming.
The latest culprit in this series of layoffs is Chipper Cash. The payments firm is one of the most valuable tech companies in Africa with billions of dollars in valuation, matching the likes of Flutterwave. A VP of Engineering at the company revealed in a LinkedIn post that Chipper had to let go of some of its workers.
This morning a significant number of Chipper staff were let go in a layoff. While I was not among them, many of my close colleagues and friends were. If you’re looking for talented engineering leadership, engineers, technical program managers, analysts, or IT staff, please comment here and I’ll do my best to start connecting people – says Erin Fusaro, VP of Engineering at Chipper Cash
While she doesn’t say how many employees were let go, she reveals that firing affected many members in engineering leadership, engineers, technical program managers, analysts, and IT staff. Basically, many departments have been affected in the firm.
With a substantial amount of money in its coffers, it had been expected that Chipper wouldn’t do that. However, this is proof that even the most funded startups aren’t immune from cleaning house during hard times, which have been worse by increasing inflation, the effects of the pandemic, and the Ukraine war.
Chipper raised $150 million towards the end of 2021. Many investors were part of the round, including FTX. The platform has since closed shop after a $32 billion meltdown. Its investment, however, did not affect the operations at Chipper following the recent developments.
READ MORE: State of Tech Layoffs in Kenya and Abroad in 2022
However, we are not sure why these companies are firing people all of a sudden in 2022. It is possible that copycat behaviour is playing a part in this, where companies copy what others are doing especially in managing their workforce.
Locally, firms such as Twiga Foods and Sendy have let go of a good percentage of their workers: 210 for Twiga, and 20% of the Sendy workforce. Others such as Notify Logistics have since closed shop, and so has electric e-cab company NopeaRide.
