Customer Funds Frozen as Lydia Faces Leadership Shakeup

Things have taken a troubling turn at Nigerian fintech firm Lydia. Months after its CEO and CTO quietly exited, users of its flagship platform, Lydia Collect, say they’ve been locked out of their wallets—unable to withdraw funds or receive support.

The fintech, launched in 2016 by Jumia alumni Tunde Kehinde and Ercin Eksin, was originally built to provide small business loans. By 2020, it expanded into Eastern Europe and raised $8.3 million in Series B funding. But in 2023, Lydia shut down its operations in Poland and the Czech Republic, redirecting efforts to a new solution for Nigerian SMEs: Lydia Collect.

This tool allowed businesses to set up automatic repayments from their customers’ bank accounts. The money would land in Lydia wallets. But since mid-2024, customers say those wallets have been inaccessible—and the silence from the company is growing louder.

“We sent a lot of emails since last year till now, and we have not gotten any response. Our money is stuck… it has been a horrible few months just trying to recover our money,” said one affected customer.

Investors Backed Out, Engineers Resigned

The situation appears to stem from wider internal troubles. CTO Cristiano Machado left Lydia in September 2024, followed by CEO Kehinde’s departure the next month. In March 2025, when a concerned user contacted Kehinde directly, he responded that he hadn’t been involved in the company’s operations for nearly a year.

He claimed the board had appointed a new CEO, Itunu Efunkoya, a former finance analyst with the company. However, while she acknowledged the crisis, she hasn’t confirmed her position.

“We are aware of the situation and are currently looking into it. We’re working to gather accurate information and will provide an update as soon as we’re able,” she said in a statement.

But according to a former Lydia employee, problems began even earlier. By May 2024, Lydia was reportedly unable to pay its Portugal-based tech team. Over the next few months, the entire engineering staff resigned after not receiving salaries for four months.

An investor that was expected to inject fresh funding into the business ultimately walked away, and no contingency plans were in place. Other board members allegedly declined to take on the financial obligations, leaving both employees and users in a lurch.