How Asuer actually works.
Asuer is a people business, powered by fintech products and solutions. We grew out of Botle Buhle Brands, a direct-selling network that has reached 65 000 people across South Africa over 28 years. Those people, and the millions like them, are who we build for.
Insurance, connectivity, and soon money, are only the how. The point is the people: bringing everyday financial services within reach, on the phones they already have, often through someone they already know.
Where we start.
Before the long version, the short one.
Built for reality.
Signal drops. Data runs out. People earn in cash. We design for that, not for the conference circuit.
We extend trust.
We digitise what already works, carefully, so it doesn't get spent faster than it is earned.
Six things we hold close.
Each one short on purpose, so it can be argued with.
Build for reality
We design for the phones and networks people actually have, not the conference circuit.
Trust before tech
BBB built it over 28 years. Our job is to extend it carefully. Empathy is operational.
First principles first
We ask why before what. Activity isn't progress.
Distribution does the lifting
Software alone doesn't drive behaviour change. Physical touchpoints and trusted hands still do.
Marathon, not sprint
Some quarters look slow. Our customers have been patient with us for decades. We return the favour.
Success becomes significance
Success is what you do for yourself. Significance is what others can build with what you've done.
The Sales Force comes first.
There is one rule for ordering our customers.
- The Sales Force
Over 65 000 independent sales people across 7 African countries. 95% women. Not our channel, our first customer.
- The end consumer
Households the formal financial system has historically struggled to reach.
- Our partners
Cell C and Guardrisk. We protect their trust the way they protect ours.
- Everyone else
Including us. If a decision is good for #4 but not #1, it is the wrong decision.
Five habits.
Deliberate choices about the operating model. None of them are policy for policy's sake.
Hybrid, Mon/Wed/Fri
In the office Mon/Wed/Fri in Northriding. Tue/Thu for deep work. Alignment, not policing. We'll revisit when we're a different company.
Outcomes, not tasks
Every project starts with what it's trying to change. The work falls out from there.
One stack, one language
Odoo, Python, FastAPI, WhatsApp, PostgreSQL. One source of truth. Same vocabulary across the team.
AI-native, by design
AI is embedded in how we build, how we design products, and how we turn operational data into insight. A human stays on anything that touches a customer's money or dignity.
A People Team, not HR
Humans aren't resources. A small word change does a lot of work.
Five ideas we build on.
We did not invent how we work. Five ideas shaped it, and we name them plainly.
Think like scientists
Adam Grant · Think AgainWe hold opinions as hypotheses, not identities. The aim is to be a little less wrong each week, not to preach a gospel, prosecute a case or campaign for approval. It is why every principle here is short on purpose, so it can be argued with.
Copy what already works
Sam Walton · Made in AmericaWalton built one of the world's largest retailers largely by watching other people and borrowing what worked. So we study the best, Capitec, Yoco, M-Kopa, Revolut, and adapt it for our people, instead of pretending we have to invent everything ourselves.
Range, the company and the person
David Epstein · RangeIn complex, fast-moving fields, broad generalists tend to beat early specialists. It runs both ways for us: Asuer spans insurance, mobile, payments and technology rather than betting on one lane, and we look for people with the same range, able to move between problems and connect them. Depth follows.
A team, not a family
Reed Hastings · No Rules RulesWe look after each other, and we are honest that this is a high-performing team. Every seat holds a strong contributor, feedback is direct, and we back you hard while you earn your place.
Trust the flywheel
Jim Collins · Good to GreatGreat things are rarely one dramatic moment. They come from small, consistent pushes, day after day, until the momentum is hard to stop. Most of the job is turning the wheel.
We call it fragrance.
We do not call it 'culture': that word already means something else in the communities we serve. So BBB picked a different word for the feel of a workplace, and it stuck. Three notes.
Trust
Above all. Earned, not assumed.
Curiosity
At every level. Questions matter as much as answers.
Commitment
To the purpose, and to each other.
Four products, one engine.
One platform underneath all four. Each product extends the trust of the last, and earns the right to the next.
The operating engine
The platform every Asuer product runs on, and the system behind BBB's field network.
Funeral cover on WhatsApp
Cover taken out in minutes, with valid claims paid within 24 hours.
Asuer Connect
Our mobile network, on Cell C, with free Asuer-to-Asuer calls.
Credit that follows behaviour
Credit and business financing built for community entrepreneurs, growing with them as they build.
What we won't do.
A handbook is honest about what it refuses, not just what it promises.
- Pretend the formal economy is the whole economy.It isn't.
- Build only for the people we want to hire.We build for the trader trying to load a catalogue without burning data.
- Optimise for the press release.If a launch looks good but the Sales Force doesn't benefit, we postpone.
- Treat customer data as a growth lever.It's a duty of care.
- Hire for credential first.We hire for taste, range and the ability to sit with messy reality.
- Confuse activity with progress.If we're very busy and not building anything that lasts, we're losing.
Read the open roles.
Apply online, pick a role and fill in the short form. We reply within two business days.
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