Viamo, a Ghana-based social and expertise firm that helps NGOs, authorities businesses, donors and companies to speak straight with their viewers through the use of native languages to disperse their messages through cell phone, has laid off a few of its staff.
Whereas TechCabal is but to substantiate the proportion of Viamo’s workforce that was let go, one of many laid-off staff who spoke to us anonymously mentioned, it’s “lots”.
“I don’t have the precise quantity, however I do know the worldwide design workforce was drastically affected,” the previous worker informed TechCabal. “In Asia, they laid off the design and implementation workforce.”
The ex-employee mentioned the corporate cited the principle purpose for this choice to be “redundancy”.
Viamo hasn’t responded to TechCabal’s request for remark as on the time this text was printed.
“The corporate is at the moment restructuring internally, and it appears it has figured on the market are extra folks doing what much less folks could possibly be doing,” the previous worker mentioned. Although the ex-employee confirmed that the corporate has prolonged them severance packages, in addition they revealed that the corporate’s books are within the pink, that means it’s not making sufficient cash to cater for its workforce.
Whereas it seems that this lay-off is a consequence of low income and the decline in enterprise funding, from what the ex-employee mentioned, it may additionally be the case that Viamo overplayed its personal hand.
“Throughout COVID, they have been overhired as a result of they’d lots of funds to run COVID programmes the world over on combating misinformation,” the ex-employee informed TechCabal. Viamo turned one of many world’s largest digital frontliners within the battle in opposition to COVID-19 and its vaccine-related fallacies in rising markets. It supplied pressing information assortment assist to its companions such because the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNECA, UNDP, and the World Financial institution.
Now the world is transferring previous the pandemic, and combating misinformation, whereas nonetheless essential, is now not top-of-mind for many organisations.
The worker additionally confirmed that that is the second wave of lay-offs within the firm’s historical past, “the primary one occurred about 4 years in the past.”
Viamo, previously often known as VOTO Cell, was based in 2012 by some Ghanaian and Canadian engineers in Kumasi on the Kwame Nkrumah College of Science and Know-how (KNUST). The corporate is run by 3 co-founders: David McAfee (CEO), Mark Boots (CTO), and Louis Dorval (COO).
The ten-year-old firm is now operational throughout the globe with presence in Asia, North America, the Center East, and North Africa. In Africa, the corporate is current in 41countries, and headquartered in Ghana.
In 2021, the World Innovation Fund (GIF), wrote a cheque of $1.5 million to steer Viamo’s $5 million Collection A spherical, which was speculated to drive its market growth. Export Growth Canada, SaskWorks Enterprise Fund, and VestedWorld additionally co-invested.
From Cairo to Nairobi to Lagos, there’s a whirlwind of lay-offs and wage cuts within the tech ecosystem. Viamo is becoming a member of a number of African firms which have laid off their workers together with Egyptian Svwl and Vezeeta, Nigerian 54gene and Alezo, and Kenyan Marketforce.
Replace: The GIF that lead Viamo’s Collection A has been up to date to The World Innovation Fund. It’s not the memes search engine owned by Meta as described earlier than within the article. This replace was completed on 01/09/2022 by 9:00 AM