Through their legal professionals, the Nigerian well being tech startup, Medsaf, on Friday, July 7, 2023, despatched TechCabal a “cease and desist” letter, requesting that our story on Medsaf, revealed earlier that very same day, be taken down. Our story accommodates allegations that Medsaf workers have been owed salaries for months and one other allegation of economic misappropriation. We stand by our reporting and have discovered no situations of fabric errors, misrepresentations, falsehoods, or malice in our article. We have responded intimately beneath, clarifying among the claims made by Medsaf legal professionals through electronic mail and a few claims made by the corporate’s CEO on LinkedIn.
TechCabal’s story on Medsaf alleges that a number of of the corporate’s workers have been owed salaries from December 2022 till they have been laid off in March 2023. We established and corroborated the allegations by talking to a number of former workers at Medsaf. TechCabal was additionally privy to inside correspondence the place firm officers clearly acknowledged that excellent salaries for a similar interval would ultimately be paid. Several former workers stated that they’d nonetheless not been paid on the time of our report. TechCabal has seen emails between different workers and the corporate’s administration the place workers requested about their excellent salaries. We’ve additionally seen correspondence that requested questions on Medsaf’s funds, main us to publish the allegation by a senior government of economic misappropriation.
TechCabal contacted Medsaf through electronic mail to set up a proper of response. A proper of response is a time-honoured moral guardrail that mandates that each one sides are heard and their views thought of earlier than an article is revealed. While we initially requested that a response be shared in three hours, we shortly remedied that, affirming to Medsaf that we might not publish the story till they shared their perspective and giving them extra time to reply. Medsaf emailed TechCabal, sending 4 emails addressing among the points and offering rebuttals. Those responses are contained in our story.
Following our electronic mail change, TechCabal requested a telephone name with the corporate to permit a fuller response to allegations that had not been addressed within the electronic mail change. On that decision, Medsaf’s CEO didn’t deal with the substance of the allegations and was as an alternative verbally abusive in the direction of TechCabal’s reporter, swearing repeatedly, threatening authorized motion and explaining that she solely does ‘this work’ for folks just like the reporter.
As a consequence, we despatched one other electronic mail to Medsaf, outlining the allegations, asking for a correct response or rebuttal and affirming that we have been keen to watch for a correct response earlier than publishing. Medsaf declined and stated any additional responses would come from their legal professionals. 24 hours after the start of our official engagement with Medsaf, our article was revealed. With all weighty tales, we are going to all the time give our topics time to reply and demand on sharing their perspective. However, when topics select not to reply, we are going to publish the info as we all know them.
It is necessary to notice that Medsaf’s response is much too regularly the method taken by enterprise leaders when confronted with presumably damaging tales. Rather than participating the substance of the allegations, they make the media the story. Medsaf had the chance to interact in good religion to reply to weighty allegations however selected invective, threats, spurious authorized motion and at last, an enchantment to public sentiment that implies that they’re the sufferer right here, not their unpaid workers or buyers that may need readability on claims of economic impropriety.
We are regularly requested why we publish these tales of struggling corporations, layoffs, scandals and monetary improprieties, particularly in a younger ecosystem nonetheless primarily funded by overseas capital. Are we not taking pictures ourselves within the foot? In response, we notice that TechCabal has been one of many main publications telling the African tech story in all its glory for over a decade. Our protection has showcased the very best of African tech to the world, made heroes of founders and builders on the continent, change into a vital reference level for buyers globally and ensured that there’s no doubt that there’s a severe and worthwhile startup and tech trade in Africa that’s price investing in. We’re optimistic in regards to the influence of know-how and know-how corporations in Africa and are cheerleaders for the expansion of what we consider is a vital financial engine for the continent.
That being stated, we acknowledge the significance of accountability in constructing a sturdy ecosystem. That accountability extends to workers, buyers, clients and the broad public. Investors need to know when their funds are misappropriated or a enterprise mannequin has gone awry; clients need to know when a firm is chopping corners on security or the safety of their data, workers need to be protected against mistreatment, new founders need to know what errors those that got here earlier than them made and most of the people desires to perceive the influence of those companies and applied sciences that change their lives so quickly. Without the accountability the press supplies, the worst impulses throughout the ecosystem will develop unchecked; unhealthy information will keep hidden for longer, and all stakeholders will discover the trade more durable to belief. We don’t inform these tales as a result of they’re salacious. We inform them as a result of they’re necessary.
We stand by our story, our strategies and restate our dedication to equity, stability and honesty in our journalism. We additionally restate that we are going to proceed to honour the moral demand of offering all topics of our tales a proper to reply and can all the time interact our topics, nonetheless lengthy it takes till all events are glad that their views and views have been heard.
…. to be continued
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