Employee Wellbeing Culture: Inside Transactpay's Approach

Last Friday, something refreshingly human happened at Transactpay.

We shut down our laptops, stepped away from our dashboards, and walked into an iFitness gym — every single one of us. From our CEO Ernest Obi, to our COO Yewande Apelehin, to our CRRCO Monday Ogbemudia, to every member of our team. No hierarchy. No agenda. Just a fitness class, some music, and — as it quickly became clear — a lot of people with absolutely no sense of rhythm.

The dance class was, to put it charitably, a masterclass in enthusiasm over coordination. There were missed steps, creative interpretations of choreography, and more than a few moments where colleagues who command boardrooms and drive complex fintech operations were completely humbled by a simple two-step. The laughter was real. The energy was electric. And honestly? It was one of the best things we have done as a team in a long time.

But beyond the fun — and there was a lot of it — that session meant something deeper to me as the person responsible for Human Capital at this company.

We Don’t Just Talk About People; We Invest in Them

At Transactpay, we have long held that our people are not just our greatest asset — they are the foundation everything else is built on. And foundations need to be maintained.

This is why we made a deliberate decision to go beyond standard perks. Every employee at Transactworld Digital holds an active iFitness corporate subscription — a plan that gives them access to any iFitness gym location across Nigeria. Whether you are working from our offices or traveling to another city, your subscription travels with you. This is not a one-off reward. It is a recurring, annual commitment by the organisation to your physical health and by extension, your mental wellbeing.

We chose iFitness as our partner because their nationwide network means our benefit is genuinely accessible — not a perk that works only in theory. For a team as dynamic and mobile as ours, that matters.

Employee Wellbeing Culture: Inside Transactpay's Approach

Work-Life Integration, Not Just Balance

There is a phrase I have started retiring: “work-life balance.” Balance implies a scale — that for work to go up, life must come down, and vice versa. It frames the two as opposing forces constantly competing for your time and energy.

At Transactworld Digital, we prefer a different framing. Work-life integration. The idea that the person who shows up to meet a product deadline and the person who shows up to a Friday dance class are the same person — and both versions of that person deserve to be invested in.

“Work-life balance is integral to what we do — and actually, we call it work-life integration now.”

That shift in language reflects a shift in philosophy. We are not asking our people to leave their full selves at the door when they come to work, so it only makes sense that we do not ask them to leave their professional ambitions at the gym door either. Wellness is not a break from work. It is part of how we work better.

What Leadership Showing Up Actually Looks Like

One of the things I was most proud of last Friday was that our leadership did not send a memo. They showed up — and struggled through the same dance steps as everyone else.

There is something profoundly powerful about seeing your COO sweating through a fitness class alongside you. It says: your wellbeing matters enough for me to prioritise mine too. It flattens hierarchy in the best possible way. It builds the kind of trust that no team-building slide deck ever could.

Psychological safety does not come from policy documents. It comes from moments — repeated, genuine moments — where people see that the organisation values them as human beings, not just as output generators.

Last Friday was one of those moments.

What We’re Building Towards

We are in the business of financial technology — a fast-paced, high-demand, deeply competitive space. The pressure to perform is real, and we do not shy away from that. But we also believe, firmly, that sustainable high performance is only possible when people are well.

Burnout is expensive. Disengagement is contagious. But a culture where people feel genuinely cared for — where wellbeing is not a corporate afterthought but a core operating principle — that is a culture that retains talent, attracts the best, and delivers consistently.

The iFitness gym subscription. The company-wide fitness class. The Friday afternoon away from screens. These are not distractions from our mission. They are investments in the people who execute it.

We will keep finding ways to show up for our team — because we know our team will keep showing up for Transactpay.

If your organisation is thinking about how to build a culture that people actually want to be part of, I’d love to connect and exchange ideas.