Kenya, 27 Oct 2025 - The Employment and Labour Relations Court has ordered Craft Silicon, the company behind ride-hailing app Little Cab, to pay its former General Manager, Ronald Otieno Mahondo, a staggering KSh 98 million for wrongful dismissal and a broken promise of company shares. Justice Mathews Nduma, in a ruling delivered on October 23, 2025, found that Craft Silicon and its CEO Kamal Budhabhatti unlawfully fired Mahondo in 2017 to block him from claiming his 1% ownership stake in the firm.
According to the judgment, Mahondo will receive USD 750,000 (around KSh 97 million) representing the value of his stake, plus KSh 1.02 million for unfair termination. The decisive blow to Craft Silicon’s defense came from a secret audio recording Mahondo submitted to the court, a conversation in which Budhabhatti can be heard acknowledging the 1% equity agreement. Despite the company’s objections, Justice Nduma ruled the recording admissible, describing it as “credible, consistent, and verifiable.”
The court concluded that Mahondo had sensed a looming witch hunt and began recording meetings to protect himself. These tapes, the judge noted, provided “undeniable proof” that his dismissal was engineered to avoid the firm’s contractual obligations. “The claimant was victimised in an effort to conceal the fact that he had been awarded 1% shareholding,” Justice Nduma stated.
Mahondo joined Little Cab in April 2016, recruited to spearhead the startup’s launch and take on global competitors like Uber. His base salary began at KSh 240,000, later rising to KSh 340,000 but the real lure was the promised equity, a 1% stake, with another 1% to follow if he successfully scaled the business. Within a year, Mahondo said, his team had grown Little Cab’s valuation to more than USD 300 million. The court, however, used a more conservative estimate of USD 75 million, valuing his stake at USD 750,000.
Tensions reportedly flared when Mahondo pressed for a signed contract confirming the share agreement. Soon after, a “flurry of disciplinary letters” arrived, culminating in his abrupt firing in May 2017. Craft Silicon defended the dismissal, accusing Mahondo of poor management and misconduct. But the court dismissed those claims, calling the disciplinary process “a deliberate and malicious attempt to edge him out.”
The ruling also cited testimony describing a toxic work environment, including harassment and threats from a senior director, Budhabhatti’s wife. This KSh 98 million award now stands as one of the largest employment payouts in Kenyan legal history and a warning shot to startups that promise equity but fail to formalize it.
