{"id":77981,"date":"2025-09-22T16:21:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T16:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/wasoko-founder-daniel-yu-resigns-as-ceo-after-11-years"},"modified":"2025-09-22T16:21:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T16:21:45","slug":"wasoko-founder-daniel-yu-resigns-as-ceo-after-11-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/wasoko-founder-daniel-yu-resigns-as-ceo-after-11-years","title":{"rendered":"Wasoko Founder Daniel Yu Resigns as CEO after 11 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Eswatini. <\/strong><\/span><b>Daniel Yu, the founder of the pan-African B2B eCommerce company Wasoko, has stepped down as CEO after 11 years. His departure marks a significant leadership transition for the startup, which merged with Egypt-based MaxAB in August 2024, creating one of the largest B2B retail platforms on the continent.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Yu made the announcement via LinkedIn, where he reflected on the journey of building Wasoko from a small operation in Dar es Salaam into a logistics network that connects suppliers with informal retailers across several African countries.<\/p>\n<p>Although Yu is exiting daily operations, he will continue to be involved with the company as an advisor and board member.<\/p>\n<p>Following his departure, Belal El-Megharbel, co-founder and former CEO of MaxAB, has taken full leadership of the merged company.<\/p>\n<p>El-Megharbel had already been overseeing operations and technology since the merger, while Yu focused on investor relations and corporate development.<\/p>\n<p>This change comes as part of a series of leadership adjustments following the merger. In late 2024, MaxAB\u2019s co-founder and COO, Mohamed Ben Halim, also left the company, indicating an ongoing restructuring process to align both legacy businesses.<\/p>\n<p>The Wasoko-MaxAB merger, first reported in late 2023, was formally completed in August 2024.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, both parties described the merger as a \u201cmerger of equals,\u201d creating a combined entity with operations in five countries, over 450,000 merchants, and a workforce of more than 4,000 employees.<\/p>\n<p>The deal was also seen as a strategic response to economic pressures and the need to consolidate resources.<\/p>\n<p>Under Yu\u2019s leadership, Wasoko experienced rapid growth and became one of the leading startups in Africa\u2019s informal retail tech sector. At its peak, the company was valued at over $600 million and was supported by investors such as 4DX Ventures, Tiger Global, and Quona Capital.<\/p>\n<p>However, like many African startups in 2024, Wasoko faced operational challenges, including a valuation downgrade, regional pullbacks, and workforce reductions.<\/p>\n<p>In his LinkedIn post, Yu expressed gratitude to the Wasoko team, investors, and partners, stating that he was \u201cforever proud\u201d of their achievements.<\/p>\n<p>He also shared plans to relocate to India and focus on personal projects, including his role at Malengo, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting education access for underprivileged students.<\/p>\n<p>Yu\u2019s departure marks the end of a significant chapter for Wasoko, highlighting a broader trend in Africa\u2019s tech ecosystem: the shift from founder-led operations to professional management as startups mature and scale.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Eswatini<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Eswatini. Daniel Yu, the founder of the pan-African B2B eCommerce company Wasoko, has stepped down as CEO after 11 years. His departure marks a significant leadership transition for the startup, which merged with Egypt-based MaxAB in August 2024, creating one of the largest B2B retail platforms on the continent. Yu made the announcement [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":77980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[249],"class_list":["post-77981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-eswatini"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wasoko Founder Daniel Yu Resigns as CEO after 11 Years - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/wasoko-founder-daniel-yu-resigns-as-ceo-after-11-years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wasoko Founder Daniel Yu Resigns as CEO after 11 Years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Eswatini. Daniel Yu, the founder of the pan-African B2B eCommerce company Wasoko, has stepped down as CEO after 11 years. His departure marks a significant leadership transition for the startup, which merged with Egypt-based MaxAB in August 2024, creating one of the largest B2B retail platforms on the continent. Yu made the announcement [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/wasoko-founder-daniel-yu-resigns-as-ceo-after-11-years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eswatini\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-22T16:21:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/wasoko-founder-daniel-yu-resigns-as-ceo-after-11-years#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/wasoko-founder-daniel-yu-resigns-as-ceo-after-11-years\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Wasoko Founder Daniel Yu Resigns as CEO after 11 Years\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-22T16:21:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/wasoko-founder-daniel-yu-resigns-as-ceo-after-11-years\"},\"wordCount\":415,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/wasoko-founder-daniel-yu-resigns-as-ceo-after-11-years#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2025\/09\/sm_1758553632.55155.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Eswatini\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/wasoko-founder-daniel-yu-resigns-as-ceo-after-11-years#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/wasoko-founder-daniel-yu-resigns-as-ceo-after-11-years\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/wasoko-founder-daniel-yu-resigns-as-ceo-after-11-years\",\"name\":\"Wasoko Founder Daniel Yu Resigns as CEO after 11 Years - 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