The co-founder and former CEO/CTO of Nigerian fintech startup Okra, Fara Ashiru Jituboh, has exited the company and taken on a new role as Head of Engineering at the UK-based startup Kernel. Her departure comes just months after Okra introduced its cloud infrastructure solution, Nebula.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Jituboh left Okra in May 2025.
In a statement to Techpoint Africa, she confirmed that the company officially ceased operations the same month.
“The decision to wind down came in May. It’s been an incredible journey—building transformative technology, collaborating with major brands across Africa, and leading the charge in open banking. I’m grateful for the support of our investors, customers, community, and a phenomenal team over these past five years.”
Founded in 2019 by Jituboh and David Peterside, Okra aimed to revolutionize access to financial data by developing APIs that allowed users to securely link their bank accounts to third-party applications.
The company played a pioneering role in Africa’s open finance movement and attracted early backing, raising $1 million in pre-seed funding from TLcom Capital, followed by a $3.5 million round led by Susa Ventures. In total, Okra secured over $16.5 million in funding, suggesting additional undisclosed rounds beyond the seed stage.
Peterside stepped down in 2022, and Okra has yet to name a successor to Jituboh.
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The launch of Nebula in October 2024 was a strategic response to the sharp rise in cloud service costs in Nigeria, driven by the depreciation of the naira. Alongside local players like Nobus and Layer3, Okra positioned Nebula as a naira-priced alternative to international providers such as AWS and Azure.
In March 2025, Jituboh highlighted that escalating FX and infrastructure expenses made cloud services one of the company’s largest financial burdens after salaries.
Before Okra, Jituboh gained experience at leading global companies, including Canva, BMW, and JP Morgan.
Her decision to return to Nigeria was born out of frustration with the lack of interoperability between fintech apps and local banks.
Under her leadership, Okra secured integrations with major Nigerian banks and fintech platforms like Renmoney, Branch, Bamboo, and AIICO Insurance.
By early 2020, the company reported 175% growth in API usage. By 2021, it had ambitions to scale across Africa, supporting developers in building next-generation digital financial solutions
Image Credit: Techpoint Africa
