Reflections on a trip to Liberia..

“Recently I travelled to Liberia with our COO, Luke. I have two main reflections on my trip to Liberia:

First, the MOPO team is legendary and it’s the honour of my life to work with you all. The second is how exciting it is to see MOPOMax at scale, finally - after years in the making!

Mustapha picked Luke Burras and I up from the airport, and the MOPO energy was immediately infectious. Later, Garsumu gave an excellent and powerful summary of the potential e-mobility market in Liberia with specific pricing and business model details which were crystal clear.

Another day I watched Joel, Yemi and Wilfred debate solutions to national mobile money outages with much gesticulation, and on that same day observed Bawo and Leo’s adroit and incisive leadership on the installation of MOPOMax hubs - setting the standard for the new business model moving forward (with Abdulai, Mark and Daniel’s indefatigable support). (Although we won’t be importing Himalayan salt for your earth pits Bawo, sorry!). Of course I cannot neglect to mention Mr Ben Storey, without whom the deeper mysteries of our products would remain unsolved. 

Whilst we represented 4 countries and 2 continents, it truly felt like ONE MOPO: we debated because we cared, we worked hard because we cared and we challenged each other because we cared. I cherish these moments and I know they happen in every corner of MOPO across all six countries and three continents - they are wider than any single individual. 

I often consider that MOPO’s success is not guaranteed; many are the perils that will knock us off course, but we make it through each one because the mission is great. The mission to build a great company that will endure the trials of operating in some of the most frontier emerging markets of the next decades. We will not be distracted by high minded ideas or distractions but instead remain focussed on delivering tangible results for our customers and our business. Our reward will be a thriving MOPO team that endures and will be our legacy.”

-Chris Longbottom, CEO