Mahfuz Rahman
Founder, Arohiko · Auckland, New Zealand
AI Researcher · Doctoral Candidate · Technology Leader
I started Arohiko because I kept seeing the same gap: organisations that knew AI was important but had nobody to help them figure out what that actually meant for their day-to-day work.
I've spent 25 years delivering technology across complex organisations — leading teams, managing portfolios of 8–12 concurrent initiatives, and working closely with clinical, executive, and community stakeholders across New Zealand. For the last several years, that work has been focused specifically on AI: researching it, building it, and deploying it into production environments where it needs to work reliably, not just impressively.
Arohiko is how I bring that experience to businesses that don't have an in-house AI team — and don't need one. What they need is someone who understands both the technology and the organisation, and can build something that actually gets used.
Credentials & background
Active research
Arohiko's consultancy work is informed by active research at the frontier of applied AI. Current research areas include:
Ongoing research into AI-powered summarisation of clinical assessment data, conducted in collaboration with health sector partners and an international research institution in Singapore. Funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
Doctoral research into autonomous AI agent systems — how AI can reason, plan, and act across complex tasks with minimal human supervision. This research directly informs Arohiko's approach to AI implementation.
Research is conducted independently through the University of Auckland. Client work at Arohiko is separate from and does not draw on confidential research data.
Our approach
We'll tell you if AI isn't the right move for your business right now. Our goal is a long-term relationship, not a quick sale.
We build things that get used, not things that look good in a demo. Real results in real workflows.
We work comfortably across NZ's diverse communities, with genuine Te Tiriti awareness and experience across Māori and Pasifika health and social contexts.