Fara Ashiru, co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian fintech startup Okra, has officially exited the company and taken on a new role as Head of Engineering at UK-based startup Kernel. Her career transition, confirmed via her LinkedIn profile, marks a significant turning point for both Ashiru and the African fintech ecosystem. Ashiru stepped into her new role in June 2025, one month after Okra formally ceased operations, bringing an end to what had once been a promising chapter in Nigeria’s burgeoning open banking movement.

Okra Shuts Down After Five-Year Run

In a statement shared with Techpoint Africa, Ashiru confirmed that Okra officially wound down operations in May 2025. This closure marked the end of one of Nigeria’s earliest and most visible open banking startups—an enterprise that had once promised to reshape how financial data is accessed, shared, and integrated across Africa.

“The company made the decision to wind down operations in May. It was an incredible journey; we built impactful technology, worked with some of the biggest brands across the continent, and helped pioneer open banking in Africa,” Ashiru noted in her statement.

She expressed deep appreciation for the support received from Okra’s team, partners, customers, and investors over the years. “I’m proud to have worked alongside some of the smartest and most talented people, and I’m deeply grateful for the community, customers, investors, and team who supported us over the past five years,” she said.

A Startup Born from Personal Frustration

Okra’s origin can be traced back to 2019, when Ashiru—alongside co-founder David Peterside—launched the company in response to a recurring challenge: the lack of effective integration between fintech applications and Nigerian banking systems.

Having previously worked at global firms such as Canva, BMW, and JP Morgan, Ashiru brought a unique mix of technical expertise and corporate insight to the table. Her return to Nigeria was driven by a desire to solve the pain points she had personally experienced while using local fintech services. This vision gave birth to Okra—a company designed to act as the infrastructure layer enabling secure, real-time connections between bank accounts and third-party applications via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

Okra’s technology helped users authorize fintech applications to access their financial data, leading to faster loan processing, personalized budgeting tools, and more efficient payments—innovations that played a significant role in laying the groundwork for open finance in Nigeria and beyond.

Rapid Growth and Strategic Partnerships

Okra quickly gained momentum in the Nigerian tech scene. Within its first year, the startup saw API usage grow by over 175%, underscoring strong demand for secure financial data integration. The company also formed high-profile partnerships with financial institutions and fintech companies such as Renmoney, Branch, Bamboo, and AIICO Insurance.

With its early success, Okra attracted substantial investor attention. The startup secured a $1 million pre-seed investment from TLcom Capital, followed by a $3.5 million seed round led by Susa Ventures. Public records indicate that Okra’s total disclosed funding exceeded $16.5 million, suggesting the possibility of further undisclosed rounds after its seed stage. These investments helped fuel product development, expand engineering teams, and pursue regional scaling ambitions.

Despite these gains, co-founder David Peterside exited the company in 2022, raising early questions about internal transitions that later became more apparent with the company’s eventual shutdown.

Championing Africa’s Open Banking Vision

Under Ashiru’s leadership, Okra emerged not just as a fintech product, but as a pillar of Africa’s open banking narrative. The company played a critical role in enabling real-time financial visibility for users and businesses, and in creating the kind of infrastructure that developers could build upon.

Okra belonged to a growing cluster of Nigerian tech firms—alongside companies like Layer3 and Nobus—working to offer local, naira-based cloud and fintech alternatives to global giants like AWS and Microsoft Azure. This wave of innovation was aimed at reducing reliance on foreign infrastructure, increasing data sovereignty, and lowering operational costs for local developers and businesses.

Okra’s APIs enabled financial service providers to retrieve bank account balances, transaction histories, identity information, and income analysis with the consent of users. This provided a secure bridge for applications that needed financial data but lacked direct partnerships with banks. By standardizing how data was shared, Okra helped streamline onboarding, underwriting, and customer engagement processes across various sectors.

Closure Amid Shifting Market Dynamics

Okra’s shutdown did not occur in isolation. In recent months, Africa’s fintech ecosystem has been undergoing a significant transformation. Increased regulatory scrutiny, cautious investor sentiment, and a push toward profitability have reshaped the landscape for startups across the continent.

As regulators in Nigeria and other African nations seek to formalize open banking rules and better control data flows, many startups have had to reassess their operating models and compliance strategies. This shift has proved challenging for early movers like Okra, especially those relying heavily on venture capital to scale ahead of profitability.

Additionally, with macroeconomic headwinds, a global funding slowdown, and rising expectations from investors, capital-intensive infrastructure plays like Okra faced mounting pressure to demonstrate quick returns—a demand that often runs counter to the long development timelines required for API ecosystems to mature.

A New Chapter for Fara Ashiru

With Okra’s chapter now closed, Ashiru has transitioned into a new role that leverages her engineering and leadership experience. In June 2025, she joined Kernel, a UK-based technology startup, as Head of Engineering. The move signals a return to the global stage for Ashiru and places her in a position to shape innovation within another emerging company.

While details about Kernel’s products remain under wraps, Ashiru’s experience building developer-first infrastructure in Africa positions her well to take on global engineering challenges.

Her move also reflects a broader trend in African tech, where founders and builders increasingly straddle global roles—contributing to international teams while bringing their local expertise into wider conversations around inclusion, innovation, and digital equity.

Reflecting on Okra’s Legacy

Though Okra has ended its operations, the legacy of its contributions remains. It helped normalize open banking conversations in Nigeria, influenced fintech product design, and inspired a new generation of developers working to build inclusive financial tools.

The company’s rise and fall also offer valuable lessons about timing, regulation, funding cycles, and the importance of sustainable growth strategies. For many in the African tech ecosystem, Okra will be remembered as both a trailblazer and a cautionary tale—a bold experiment that pushed boundaries and helped set the stage for whatever comes next in open finance.

As Ashiru embarks on a new journey at Kernel, the African tech community continues to watch closely, confident that the lessons learned from Okra will help shape the future of digital financial infrastructure in emerging markets.