COVID-19: Opay Shuts Down Business

Opay says it has shut down arms of its business as a result of the dampening effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It however stated that it would solely focus on its financial technology services.

The company cited the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the ban earlier placed on commercial motorcycles by the Lagos state government.

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

In a statement seen by TALKGLITZ, Opay stated that it foresaw the negative impacts of the pandemic on ride-hailing companies and had already begun taking ‘pre-emptive steps to restructure” its business.

The statement reads: “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.

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

The company says it will focus on its fintech service, providing payment solutions to Nigerian merchants within the eCommerce space.

“It is important to clarify that ride-sharing had always been only one part, and not a major part of Opay’s diversified business in Nigeria, I fact, Opay had been investing more and seeing accelerated growth in its commitment to Nigeria’s financial and technology inclusion,” the company explained.

As a full-fledged fintech firm and already a major player in the space, Opay will now continue to compete with the likes of Paga, Paystack, and even Flutterwave.