How listening to customers led to the creation of AO

AO’s foundations grew from years of customer conversations and relationships across Africa. Before establishing the business, the founder of AO worked closely with financial institutions from 2012, developing an understanding of their operations, ambitions and everyday challenges.

That experience spanned business development, account management and country responsibilities across Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa, Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa, and markets including Lesotho, Namibia and Botswana in Southern Africa.

Across those markets, customers often raised requirements beyond the products under discussion. They needed better ways to manage customer relationships, organise branch queues and support specific business processes. Some required a focused solution that fitted their operations without the cost and complexity of a much larger platform.

In 2018, those conversations helped shape AO into a consultancy and technology services business built around listening carefully, understanding the problem and finding a practical way forward. Depending on the requirement, that could mean bringing in a suitable technology partner or developing a solution around the customer’s needs.

Those early relationships became the foundation of the business and helped shape a belief that remains central to AO: relationships are our biggest assets. Trust, built through listening and following through, gave AO its starting point.