“$100,000 false diversion,” -Medsaf founder, Vivian Nwakah speaks on allegations

In a response to a report dated July 7, where Medsaf was accused of non-payment of salaries, indiscriminate layoffs and mismanagement of funds, the founder, Vivian Nwakah has said all the allegations are untrue and are a surprising narration of the timeline of events the company has had to go through, citing economic downturns, and an economic policy which affected the naira earlier this year.

Background

The report, which cited employees, reads that “Medsaf has laid off all its full-time employees” and when the company did the layoff, “the company only paid salaries for March” from December 2022.

It continues: “Another source who left the company last October alleged that his pensions were paid for only three months of the 15 months he spent at Medsaf. “The best way I can describe the situation is a tragedy,”

The report ends with an allegation that Medsaf’s CEO, Vivian Nwakah withdrew up to $100,000 for personal use.

“A medical service company paid Medsaf over $100,000 in early 2023 for drug distribution projects but the money ‘was neither in Medsaf’s bank account nor was it in medication stocks,'” the report stated.

Nwakah responds

–$100,000 false diversion claim.

In a chat with Technext, Nwakah said the allegation was untrue, and if the journalist who reached out to her had been patient enough, there are documents to prove that, and the fact that she hardly took a salary from the company coffers all through 2022 to ensure employees were paid.

She said the C-Suite executives of Medsaf were paid sparingly in 2022, so the company does not shut down due to lack of funds.

I sent money to the company out of my own pocket and I was owed money by the end of 2022. Board members can back up that I did not mismanage money or use funds above and beyond what I was owed. 

Vivian Nwakah

Nwakah shared a statement of account that has the company’s inflow and outflow.

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Medsaf employees were carried along.

The CEO said Medsaf employees were informed of the company’s financial status and were informed of a probable layoff if funding did not happen.

“Because we had a mix of employees we wanted to retain and fire, we let the employees know our position on funding every step of the way. We waited for funds to come in to make sure that when we did fire people we could avoid problems and pay their back pay. 

“We informed employees of the layoff once we felt funding would take a longer time. But we have every intention of paying anyone impacted,” Nwakah says, but employees still felt like they worked for the company up until March 2023, and were not paid in full, after they were laid in March.

‘We only paid according to the work they did,” during the period between January 2023 and March 2023, but, “no employees were owed any salary the whole of 2022.”

She adds, “everyone was carried along at every moment of the process. We even had a survey to understand who wanted to stay and who wanted to leave the company.”

Investor confidence gone wrong.

Nwakah corroborated the part of the report that stated Medsaf’s investors reneged on funding commitments, sharing proof of a chat.

“The only reason I did not lay people off in 2022 was because I believed funding was coming in,” Nwakah said.

The CEO agreed that the company should not have held on to the belief that the funding will arrive and actually did the layoff in December 2022.

Medsaf miscalculated

“Other big companies like Google, and Microsoft, laid off staff but we kept everyone,” Nwakah said, adding that it was when the financial load became too much and investors drew back that the company reconsidered.

Medsaf used a no-work no-pay system but failed to layoff the employees at the appropriate time.

Nwakah also stated that the company still owes vendors and will pay as soon as there’s financial capacity to do that.

What’s next?

Nwakah says Medsaf is still running and she believes funding will come, notwithstanding the current troubles, which is a global phenomenon.

She banks on a network of private and government entities who believe in the work Medsaf is doing.

Nwakah also stated that healthcare startups, including competitors, have come together to support Medsafs turnaround. 

These businesses have pledged to work together to support Medsafs turnaround.

Vivian Nwakah

In case you don’t know Medsaf…

According to the website, “Medsaf [founded in 2017] leverages technology to provide direct access to quality medication manufacturers for hospitals and pharmacies. We intend to help African hospitals and pharmacies access credit, inventory management and logistics with ease. It’s a one-stop procurement service.”