Behind Oriente’s rise and fall

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Hello reader,

I think one of the most important things a company has to get right is paying their employees properly and on time. It’s such a fundamental part of running a business – if you can’t get this right, what does it say about your priorities and how you’re managing other parts of the company?

This belief certainly feels true when I look at today’s premium story, which takes a look at what’s going on at Hong Kong-based fintech firm Oriente.

It has shut down its Vietnam operations, wound down its business unit in Indonesia, and laid off dozens of staff last year – many of whom are still owed salaries and severance pay.

These owed salaries are just one of the many issues that Oriente is facing. My colleague Melissa goes deeper.

Today we look at:

• Abrupt dismissals, unpaid salaries, and other issues at Oriente
• A coffee startup from the Philippines that’s just raised funds
• Other newsy highlights such as Thunes’ payments license in France and Klaytn burning its tokens

Premium summary

Of unpaid salaries and abrupt dismissals

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Oriente runs multiple subsidiaries across Southeast Asia but it has had to pare down its operations significantly in Indonesia and Vietnam. Here’s how things have been going:

• The rise and the fall: Oriente, which was founded in 2017, had a goal to provide credit solutions to unbanked individuals in the region. However, mall closures and movement restrictions resulting from the pandemic took a toll on the business, which relied on a large offline sales and collections team stationed in malls.
• Pressing issues: Aside from trying to pivot an offline business into an online one, Oriente launched buy now, pay later solutions and new businesses but struggled as it burned through the US$175 million in capital it had raised. Sources familiar with the company also questioned if the firm was “trying to do too many things at once.”
• What’s happening now: The company has been reorganizing its operations since the end of 2022 to address liabilities at the firm.. Affected employees have been told that the firm is exploring avenues to obtain the funds needed to pay out their salaries.

Read more: Oriente staff decry abrupt dismissal, unpaid salaries as Vietnam and Indonesia units shutter

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