Leading South African security and medical response marketplace AURA has appointed David Myers as its Chief Operations Officer.

According to a statement released by the company, Myers previously served as a General Manager and Regional Operations Lead at Uber for Europe, Middle East & Africa, and brings with him decades of experience that will stand him in perfect stead for this position.

Co-founder Ryan Green, who is moving into a new role at the company, hands over to Myers and said, “Start-up platform COOs should be very detailed and have the desire, grit and ability to understand how everything within the business works at all levels in order to effectively guide the broader team through the requirements, timelines and challenges that will inevitably arise. I believe David is perfect for this role and his work experience up to this point will be extremely valuable.”

AURA said for Myers, the position has personal meaning. “I started my career in the security industry in SA, at first with a proactive security start-up, and then ADT Tyco before moving to the largest and most efficient tech-enabled marketplace in the world at Uber. Combining these two allows me to leverage my learnings and experience while having an immense impact on people’s lives”.

On reflecting on what motivates and drives him “the first is solving tough problems, and the second is building something new. AURA affords me both.”

Myers added, “AURA is primed and ready to scale. Ryan will be transitioning into the area of launching new businesses and markets, scaling the business globally, as I take over as COO. He’ll build new markets from 0 to 1, hand over to me and the operations team, and we’ll build from 1 to 100.”

“We can get anything on demand nowadays. You can order and get groceries, food and riding services at the push of a button, but one of the most basic needs, safety, is inaccessible. It’s the most important need of every single human. Even in developed countries, these industries have not advanced quickly enough from a tech perspective. AURA is the technology that finally enables this. And when people feel safe, societies thrive. No nation can move forward without it. The challenge of safety exists everywhere but manifests differently in different markets – in some areas it might be personal safety, in others violent or organised crime. I’m excited to work out how to address each market’s unique needs, balancing demand and supply, generating sufficient value for the marketplace, and building a sustainable business.”