How would you describe the year 2020 at AYO?

2020 was undoubtedly a year like no other, not just for AYO but for every business and person on the planet. It has tested us in every possible way, both as people and in our professional capacities, and it certainly forced us all to re-evaluate our priorities. The times of lockdown and isolation and, of course, the economic downturn that followed, taught us all that simply surviving is an achievement in itself under the circumstances.

AYO, however, has been facing all sorts of challenges and had already built a level of resilience that we were able to draw from, to face the challenges of 2020.

We started the period looking very buoyant. We still had two interim audits taking place simultaneously and stretching our resources, but operationally we were in a good space. Our focus was on refining our governance processes, honing in our investment strategy and operational excellence. We welcomed two additions to our Board – Professor Louis Fourie, with his strong academic background in innovation and technology and Khalid Abdulla who brings valuable expertise and experience to our investment team.

We were steadfast on our business trajectory, and then came COVID-19. This immediately forced us to shift our focus and concentrate on the health and well-being of our staff above all else. Our urgent priority was to ensure our business continuity processes were in place under the new circumstances while minimising the impact, as much as possible, on our employees and their families. We swiftly arranged for tools and resources required by our employees for remote office functionality – from internet access to telehealth support for their wellbeing. We supported, motivated and engaged with our employees with a robust internal communications plan, and I have to say, I am very proud of what our teams have achieved during the most trying of times.

Other than remote working protocols, what else changed for AYO during COVID?

Real leaders are forged in a crisis and AYO truly took the opportunity to stand out in this time that challenged the entire world. As an important player in the South African business landscape and as good corporate citizens, we have always viewed corporate social investment and the upliftment of our communities as one of our key responsibilities. However, as a technology-focused enterprise, our CSI focus was centred primarily around education and SMME support. With COVID-19, we widened our horizons to include basic necessities like food and wellbeing to our CSI initiatives, in addition to the programmes we already had running. We contributed to numerous organisations that were entrenched in their immediate communities to provide thermometers, sanitizers, face masks and food vouchers to the most vulnerable. And this is just at AYO Company level.

With one of our subsidiaries, Health System Technologies, who has long been an integral player in the South African healthcare industry, we implemented 28 integration projects, which enabled the National Health Laboratory System (NHLS) to collaborate with over a hundred private testing laboratories countrywide to deliver the wide-spread testing and communicate real time results that all of us followed on our mobile apps during lockdown. Another one of our subsidiaries offered online fitness and yoga classes open to everyone through their social media accounts. We remained committed to having a positive impact on people’s lives.

And now that the global pandemic has slowed down what are your hopes for 2021?

The pandemic may have slowed down, but I don’t believe it is behind us yet. Many of the changes we adopted in 2020 – the way we work, communicate, travel and so on are here to stay. This is the “new normal”.

Luckily, technology has a key role to play in this new way of life and for a company like AYO the future looks very exciting.

We remain true to our business imperative to transform South Africa’s economy by driving innovation, supporting entrepreneurship and improving the lives of our community.

Even before the pandemic, AYO promoted innovation by partnering with Fast Company’s inaugural Most Innovative Companies event and various enterprise development initiatives. We continue to support Africa’s entrepreneurs in partnership with the SA Innovation Summit, Thabo Mbeki Foundation and our own AYO Academy.

With the “new normal” now entrenched in our lifestyles, we look forward to further supporting our subsidiary businesses and the country’s entrepreneurs to maximise the value they bring to their customers and communities. We remain focused on playing our role in addressing key SDGs through technology. Our Group companies have already moved into a new mindset and are applying their existing solutions to solve completely different, yet very important, crises we face here in Africa – from climate change to illegal human trafficking and wildlife conservation.

We believe that unprecedented challenges unlock the greatest of opportunities and are firmly focused on harnessing these opportunities as a Group, but also for our country and our continent. We have our eyes set on the key technologies that we believe will transform the next decade and are ready to support the organisations that best utilise these technologies for our community’s benefit, be them subsidiaries or CSI beneficiaries. Africa has many challenges that technology can solve. The road ahead is particularly exciting for us and we look forward to being part of this transformation one community at a time.