OPay Suspends Transportation, Logistic Services

By Adedapo Adesanya

OPay has announced suspending some of its business units in order to focus only on financial technology services.

The Opera-backed startup said the business units that have been put on hold include all its ride-hailing platforms (ORide and OCar) as well as OExpress, its delivery business.

This was disclosed in a press statement by the company released on Thursday.

The firm blamed the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a recent regulation by the Lagos State Government banning commercial motorcycles in the state for its decision.

The organisation said as a result of these factors, the management decided to restructure the company’s business model.

“We can confirm that some of our business units including the ride-hailing services, ORide, OCar, as well as our logistics service OExpress will be put on pause.

“This is largely due to the harsh business conditions which have affected many Nigerian companies, including ours, during this COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown, and government ban,” the statement said.

OPay also noted that ride-hailing companies around the world have particularly been hit hard by the pandemic which caused rippling economic effects across the world. The company said it foresaw the negative impacts of the pandemic and had already begun restructuring long before now.

“Globally, ride-sharing businesses have been heavily impacted by the pandemic.

“But several months ago, foreseeing this issue, OPay had already taken pre-emptive steps to restructure our business focus away from rides.”

According to the statement by the company, this final restructuring is expected to have a very minimal impact on its business as a whole as it will be keeping services like say verticals like OMall, OTrade, and others.

“It is worthy to note that this final restructuring has minimal impact on OPay as a whole business,” it stressed.

The fintech noted that its fintech venture, which includes both its mobile money and digital payment services, has been profitable and remains unaffected.

Business Post reports that months before the Lagos State ban on operations of commercial motorcycles in the metropolis last year, OPay raised $50 million from Chinese investors to expand its services.

In November 2019, the company raised another fund, $120 million, from Chinese moneybags and it was to expand its operations in Africa as it was facing stiff competitions from other brands.