Tizeti CEO, Mr Kendall Anaru, has been accused of sexual harassment by Kelechi Udoagwu, a former Entrepreneur-in-Training at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST).
Tizeti is a fast-growing Wireless Internet service provider in Lagos, Nigeria.
Techcabal reports that the incident took place when Mr. Anaru visited MEST Ghana as a guest speaker, and was assigned to miss Kelechi as a mentor, who in a twitter thread said Ananyi had “pulled out and put his dick in my hands in the bright afternoon begging me for anything I could do.” which suggests a forced solicitation of sexual favour.
She added, “Our friendship had been purely platonic and professional till that afternoon.”
“I could barely assimilate and react that this was really happening.”
Mr. Ananyi, in his response denied the allegations saying he never had a mentorship session with Kelechi, admitting that he only met her at the summit.
However, Kelechi isn’t alone in this as MEST who later absorbed her into its workforce, promised to stand by her even as it reaffirmed that Ananyi had not been officially engaged to mentor entrepreneurs nor was he a staff of MEST, but had been invited as a guest speaker at the time.
“Kelechi is widely respected in the West African tech ecosystem and an alumni we are very proud of. We stand by her courage to come out and speak against the harassment,” Ravichandran said reaffirming that Ananyi had not been officially engaged to mentor entrepreneurs nor was he a staff of MEST, but had been invited as a guest speaker at the time.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ananyi has been asked to step down while investigation is being carried out.
Also, 4DX Ventures has at the time of this writing resigned from the Tizeti, Inc. Board saying,
“Not only are we disappointed by what we feel is a lack of sensitivity in Mr. Kendall Ananyi’s personal statement, but we believe the removal of the Board-approved statement highlights the lack of commitment from company leadership to handle this matter with the seriousness it deserves to allow for a transparent and independent investigation,” 4DX Ventures told TechCabal in an email.
TechCabal has the full story.
Sexual harassment/abuse is fast eluding the tech industry in Nigeria and across the world. Uber has had its own share of the menace, which partly cost the co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick his position on the board.
The act of sexual harassment/ abuse is animalistic and anyone who indulges in it should be treated like an animal regardless.(the author’s opinion).
