‘Anchor your business on innovation’

Sikhulekelani Moyo, Business Reporter
YOUNG entrepreneurs should anchor their businesses on innovations that solve society’s challenges in order to make an impact on the market as opposed to imposing products on consumers, a business consultant has said.

This requires adoption of ‘design thinking’, a concept that models business enterprises in line with what consumers expect and aligns its products and services to customer satisfaction.

Speaking during a recent webinar organised by Old Mutual under its ‘Eight2Five Innovation Hub, innovation consultant Audrey Chidawanyika, said entrepreneurs should not try to impose products on consumers but should be innovative enough to know what consumers need and try to produce goods and services that address consumer problems.

“The concept of ‘design thinking’ is of the framework that will set your business for the success that you are looking for by understanding the real need, the real pin-points, the pressure points and the game points of the people you are trying to create a solution for,” she said.

The Eight2Five Innovation Hub was launched by Old Mutual to capacitate youth-run start-ups while increasing innovation capabilities within the business.

Chidawanyika said innovation should be the cornerstone of any organisation that has the customer at heart, and by innovation, businesses continue to create value for the benefit of customers and all stakeholders.

She said the design thinking model will help entrepreneurs in introducing best practice, an essential guide to building remarkable products, services and teams with a user centric focus.

“As people in business we are constantly asking ourselves what problem we are solving. When we ask ourselves that question, we are setting ourselves to look for the true note in our business, which is essentially the value proposition that we are trying to bring to the people and the real impact that we want to create in their lives,” she said.

“The concept of design thinking helps in solving complex problems.”

Chidawanyika said design thinking combines the problem-solving roots of design with deep empathy for the user as it focuses on the user experiencing the problem.

“If we have deep empathy with users, it means we know what they are going through, and if we bring a solution, it will be very holistic,” she said. – @SikhulekelaniM1.