It has been an expository month at the Innovation Readiness Training program organized by Innovate for Africa - a startup that prepares emerging entrepreneurs for their career or entrepreneurship journey by equipping them with specific in-demand tools and offering opportunities to use these tools in real time. One of these, is Design thinking - a repetitive process through which ideas are fine tuned into products. This intangible tool involves the following steps EMPATHIZE - DEFINE - IDEATE - PROTOTYPE - TEST. To utilize this tool, Hackathon groups were formed consisting of fellows with various backgrounds who must collaborate in defining a specific problem in the society and build a solution to solve the problem. Our initial problem statements leaned towards providing opportunities for young people to learn digitally especially with Covid-19 interfering with the school calendar. After voting on various problems, we landed a consensus.
The problem statement - Youth need ways to land great jobs but they lack in-demand digital skills
To better understand this problem statement, the team conducted primary research on the target users who were students in final year or fresh graduates between ages 18 - 25 years. Questions were sculpted to lead respondents towards discussing their realities, dreams and their hopes. Some interviews were done physically while others digitally and results were collated for further deliberation in the next step of the design thinking process.
Define stage is where we pondered on the research responses and the team was exposed to new discoveries in terms of the actual needs of the target audience. The interviewed respondents consistently expressed the following 1. They have some skill. 2. They would like to utilize the acquired skill to work
3. They want to earn some income. 4. They didn't know where to find jobs that match their skills.
These new discoveries informed a redefined problem statement
Problem Statement - Many fresh graduates face the frustration of finding jobs that are within their skill set.
This is the stage where we think up solutions to the defined problem. While deliberating, we noticed that a key factor to this problem's solution was the employer and we conducted a primary research to assess the needs of employers and see how the solution can also be beneficial to them. Results showed us that employers dread the process of scanning thousands of applications to find the right candidates for their job listings. So we resolved to build a digital platform where graduates can submit their CV, get basic work readiness training and get recommended to employers based on their skill and interest. There by reducing the time and effort put into recruitment.
Building a prototype for this platform involved the use of pen and paper, then Figma wireframe to create a high fidelity model and link the different interfaces.
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The testing was done by members of other Hackathon groups who tried the product and gave their feedback for us to make improvement.
PITCH DAY
A panel of judges made up of professionals affiliated with Harvard Business School and the Co-founder of Innovate for Africa, listened as we presented our problems and solutions emphasizing the feasibility, desirability and viability of the product. Questions were asked for more clarity and we were rated based on impact of the product to the society, innovation, implementation and presentation.
Apart from the rudiments of design thinking which I find very useful in product management, I appreciated the power of divergent thinking in building a product and the power of team work. My team will continue to develop on the idea based on the feedback gotten from the judges and facilitators with the hope to launch a successful product in future.