Meet the co-founder of Ophelos
Two of the founders - Amon Ghaiumy and Paul Chong - had previous experience working at the intersection of AI and financial services, which exposed them to the shocking reality of the debt resolution sector. This led them to team up with Professor Qingchen Wang and launch Ophelos, a London based technology company focused on transforming the debt resolution industry.
What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?
From previous career experience, we understand that the debt resolution sector has huge room for radical improvement - archaic processes,outdated technology and a broken culture, means that businesses are often engaging with customers in an ineffective and inappropriate way. The result is a poor customer experience, high costs and a lack of data and insight.
Ophelos was created to challenge traditional debt collection agencies. Through our debt management platform, we digitise and automate the debt resolution process, to help businesses develop more positive approaches to debt resolution, while engaging with customers and empowering them to take control of their finances.
What does your business offer its target audience?
Ophelos uses machine learning to determine the best way to engage with customers facing debt, to offer the most affordable and appropriate repayment solutions, and to identify potentially vulnerable customers. Our digital experience empowers customers to manage their debts at any time and from anywhere, in turn removing the shame and stigma from debt by giving individuals greater control over their finances.
To businesses, such as retail energy companies, telecoms or financial institutions, we provide crucial customer insights and data, improve time and cost efficiencies, and enhance their customer experience, which in turn drives positive customer sentiment.
What’s the most common problem your customers approach you with?
Businesses today often rely on outdated debt collection agencies who find it difficult to recover outstanding debts, spend too much resource on inefficient operational processes, and lack the tools, intelligence and insights to support financially vulnerable customers.
Meanwhile, individuals and families feel out of control throughout the debt collection process because of inflexible repayment options, antiquated communication methods used by traditional debt collectors, and a lack of digital tools for managing their debts.
What plans do you have for Ophelos over the next two years?
For our immediate future, we are looking to expand both Ophelos’ impact in the debt resolution sector, as well as partnering with like-minded organisations. Most recently we announced our partnership with Butter, a Buy Now Pay Later provider which allows customers to split the cost of their lifestyle purchases, online and instore.
As part of the partnership, Ophelos will manage Butter’s late stage debt resolution process. With growing sensitivities around the use of BNPL products and rising consumer debt, we hope to partner with similar firms to build fairer and more ethical approaches to debt resolution for those using BNPL products.
We will also continue focusing on building better product features to support businesses and customers to manage debts in an empathetic, digital and automated fashion.
What do you think gives a brand longevity?
More than anything I believe it’s a combination of talent (who), culture (how) and vision (what).The most successful companies in the world have a maniacal focus on working towards and delivering their vision driven by a clear company culture and executed by great talent that make up the organisation.
Describe your business in three words.
Empathetic, data-driven, customer-obsessed.
Why do you think your business has had such a positive impact across your industry?
It’s fair to say that there was a low expectation bar when we entered the debt collection industry - the industry has earned its poor reputation through a fundamentally broken culture.
But taking a new approach to debt is in our DNA - we’ve looked at the various issues affecting both businesses and individuals, and built our entire offering around providing an alternative.
This has meant we’ve been able to go up against incumbents within the space, challenge the status quo in everything that we do to demonstrate that there is a simpler, fairer, and more effective way of resolving debt.
What advice would you give to early-stage founders wanting to harness the power of technology to create a positive impact?
Keep your eye on the bigger picture - when working in tech, it’s tempting to get caught up in tiny details, or be wowed by the latest in digital innovation.
Always ask yourself: is this product or feature actually helping our customers? If not, why not? If so, to what extent? Be single minded in the fact that technology helps you on your journey to helping customers - it isn’t the destination itself. The best way to getting to this answer is by constantly speaking with customers to understand if and how they are using your products.
How is digitisation empowering your business?
Digital tools and services are an incredible opportunity for us internally to change how we work and communicate as a team, and how we create, build and deliver products to our clients and customers. Particularly over the past two years, new digital products have allowed us to work and collaborate in a more flexible and dynamic yet more effective and efficient way.
What would be your top three tips to fellow entrepreneurs to look after their mental health?
For us, the most important thing is to listen - take onboard what your team wants from you as leaders, and what they want from the jobs they’re doing. Over time, you will help create a culture of conversation and transparency, where your team feels empowered to speak up and take ownership.
Second - learn. There’s always more to know about mental health in the workplace, and it is important for leaders to stay ahead of the latest best practices.
Finally, adapt - ‘mental health’ is not a box to be ticked, rather it is an ongoing process of improvement. Ensure you scrutinise and update your practices regularly. Provide your employees with great tools and benefits to manage and improve their mental health and encourage them to regularly take some time off to reflect and recharge.
