EXCLUSIVE: Glade CEO addresses alleged breach of $214,000, contentious co-founder exit

Glade, a fintech startup providing banking services for SMEs and startups to have a global reach has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons recently. The startup which provides multi-currency bank accounts and enables cross-border payments among others suffered an internal breach last year, causing customers and investors to worry.

The company was founded in 2020 by Liyi Victor (CEO) to solve African business challenges like high costs of exchange rates, a decline in access to cross-border payments, and a lack of transparency.

After the company terminated Temitope Hundeyin’s contract as the COO, one report alleged that Liyi Victor, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, called all the shots and made all the decisions, including its failure to inform investors such as Techstars Toronto of the breach that cost the company a lot of money.

Liyi Victor had a chat with Technext to explain the circumstances surrounding Hundeyin’s departure, the truth behind the breach and its effects on the company as well as the future of Glade.

This exclusive interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Glade lost $214,000 from an internal breach in February last year 2022. How did this happen?

The internal breach occurred due to an attack on our security systems as at then by unauthorized individuals. We’ve since resolved the issue and implemented additional security measures and processes to protect our customers and our business.

You confirmed this breach to reporters earlier this year but did not comment on how much was lost. How much was lost?

This is one of the major falsehoods of the article by some media platforms. The $214,000 reported to have been lost was a bloated figure. The actual amount was much lower. Whilst this doesn’t excuse what happened, it’s important to correct the record.

How did things go with law enforcement? Have you recovered all the funds now?

Glade reported the breach to the police, and they arrested some people. The police got some of the stolen money back, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is still investigating. We’re still trying to get the rest of the money back, but it’s important to note that this did not affect our customers’ money.

Are customers’ funds safe with Glade?

Yes, Glade has implemented robust security measures to safeguard customer funds, including enhanced encryption techniques and regular security audits.

In addition, Glade works with financial institutions that are subject to strict financial regulations, which require it to hold customer funds in segregated accounts and to maintain a certain level of capital reserves. This means that even if Glade were to experience a financial difficulty, customer funds would be assured.

What did you do to reinforce your security system to make customers’ funds safer.?

Yes, customer funds are safe with Glade. Glade has implemented robust security measures to safeguard customer funds, including

Enhanced encryption techniques to protect customer data from unauthorized access.
Regular security audits to identify and address any potential vulnerabilities.
A dedicated security team that is constantly monitoring for threats and implementing new security measures as needed.

Of course, no security system is perfect, and there is always a risk of fraud or cyberattacks. However, Glade is committed to protecting its customers’ funds and takes all necessary steps to do so.

Why didn’t you do this before now?

Every security system is susceptible to attack. The important thing is what happens after such attacks. Glade always worked to improve its security and when the breach happened, we tackled it immediately to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. So we implemented new security measures as soon as possible.

What has happened to the employees who caused the breach or stole the money?

Glade has fired the employees who were involved in the breach, and we’re taking legal action to get the stolen money back. The police have also arrested their accomplices, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has charged others in court.

Some reports claim that you didn’t inform your investors about the breach.

This incident happened in February 2022 and we communicated the breach to our investors right away so they were kept informed. As I mentioned before, the previous report was misleading and a clickbait. When their reporter contacted us, we provided evidence to answer all of their questions, but we were surprised that the person who published the story didn’t use the information we gave him.

The same thing happened with the wrong information they published about us raising over $400k during the Techstars demo day. We didn’t raise that amount. We had commitments from investors, but as we all know, most commitments don’t end up turning into actual checks.

Temitope Hundeyin, your co-founder and COO at Glade who has since left the company told reporters that she was sidelined in the running of the business. You have since confirmed that she didn’t leave on her own accord as will be expected of a co-founder but you fired her. In clearer terms, why did she leave?

You see this is one of the reasons I kept mute and did not want to entertain the misleading information, especially the one that relates to disgruntled ex-staff. Ms. Temitope Senami-Hundeyin or Tope Tunde-Alli was never a founding team member of Glade. Her contract was terminated by the company due to performance issues and a breach of her employment contract.

Her exit was based on these grounds and was not due to the breach incident. The breach incidents happened in February 2022 before she was employed. We intended to maintain a lean, effective organization aligned with our strategic objectives. When you want to run a lean operation, you start with team members who are less effective and contribute nothing or less to the company, and she falls into that category.

Do you see how your firing her raised questions about her allegations because she was a co-founder?

Ms. Temitope Senami-Hundeyin, also known as Tope Tunde-Alli, was not a founding member of the company. We needed to fill an executive role, and she was one of three candidates we interviewed. We hired her because the other two candidates were not available, and we needed to fill the role immediately.

Her termination was unrelated to the breach incident. She was fired for violating her employment contract by starting another fintech company whilst she was still working at Glade, and for performance issues that were discovered during an internal investigation. Additionally, some investors lost confidence in her ability to deliver her role as COO.

When you say bad performance, that sort of reads like a deliberate attempt to malign a former employee. Was that your intention?

We made the statement about Ms. Temitope Senami-Hundeyin, also known as Tope Tunde-Alli’s performance, to give an accurate account of why she was fired, not to badmouth her. We also want to debunk the rumours that she helped the company get into the Techstars Accelerator. She wasn’t with us when we applied and started the interview process, so there’s no way she could have helped us get into the program.

One current employee allegedly said “Liyi runs Glade all by himself. He answers to no one and even gets into brawls with investors.” Is this a fair characterization of you?

Glade operates under a commitment to professionalism, transparency, and accountability. We maintain open communication with our stakeholders and strive to meet global industry standards. We are in a good place with our investors and other stakeholders

If you carefully notice the words used in that publication, they carefully choose the words to malign my person and put the company in a bad light within the ecosystem.. How can employees know what is happening between investors and the founder? They purposely chose those words to hurt the company. “Its a case of If I can’t have it, I will destroy it.” The person knows what she or he is doing. But its needless. The market is big for anyone to start and build a successful business without using falsehood against another business.

How will you describe your leadership style?

Our leadership style is characterized by professionalism, transparency, and accountability. We prioritize fostering open communication with our stakeholders and maintaining the highest levels of integrity and trust.

What is next for Glade now?

Keep building the solutions that our customers love, and creating a team culture where everyone loves coming to work and doing what they do. Also, continue to improve our corporate governance practices and security measures to protect our customers to the fullest and maintain their trust.