Aaron Thornton
Aaron’s first job was at the age of 12, delivering newspapers in the United States where he spent some time as a child, later in life at the age of 16, now back home in South Africa and living in Johannesburg he started working in restaurants as a waiter which he continued for 6 years and by his own account learnt invaluable and life-changing lessons about providing service and engaging with people.
After spending a few years in University at Wits into his twenties, he joined his brother (Dial a Nerd Founder; Colin Thornton) and a few varsity friends in 2001 as a shareholder to “help with the phones, manage customers better and try to sell some stuff”. After almost two decades and many different permutations of the business, Aaron took over Dial a Nerd in 2019 as the CEO with Colin stepping into the sister company Turrito.
In keeping with the entrepreneurial spirit of Dial a Nerd, Aaron has opened, closed & managed branches across the country, controlled the HR requirements of the business with over 150 staff members, run sales teams and technical teams alike and was deeply involved in both the downsizing of the business in 2013 as well as the slow and steady rebuilding of it to its 2015 merger with Turrito and acquisition by Sebata Holdings.
From 2015 to 2019 Dial a Nerd migrated through some major changes with Turrito Networks to allow for the significant transition of IP and skills between what were traditionally an IT support company and a versatile agnostic networks and connectivity provider. 2020 saw Aaron and his partners Colin, Louis and Brian complete a successful Management Buy-Out (MBO) backed by Growth Capital Partners.
Aaron’s skill set lies in building and maintaining relationships with clients, suppliers and employees alike leveraging all he has learnt since 2001 in this industry, Aaron and the rest of the management team, have found it at times difficult, but ultimately extremely satisfying to have grown the company into what it has become.