 All right, welcome to tech for big four conference program and this is brought to you by a hk Hk is a German organization in English translated as delegation of German industry and commas in Kenya The location is alchemist. I go by the name of by Moses or it's by more on social media So we are the agenda of the day is design thinking workshops So these guys are going to be taken us through the process of design thinking and how to apply it in real life Or in real businesses to solve problems So let's go through it So, I'm dr. Kendi mucungi. I'm a lecturer at African-Azerian University Computational neuroscientist a design thinker and an environmentalist So you're the perfect person to tell us what design thinking means so maybe you can break it down to the limit What does design thinking? mean to you So design thinking what it means to me is having a formal process with which you think through our problem So that you come up with a solution that is desirable. So it's user centric Is feasible that you have the technique and the technology to to build or implement and that is viable That has business sense. All right. I'm seeing people in people in groups here. So and design thinking is the core business today can Does it have to be done in groups this design thinking thing? It's really good to do it in groups because what happens is we say design thinking is something like this where Each individual has like a specialty or a skill, but they also in terms of their behavior They have a different kind of behavior and something to bring to the table And so you'll find like I'm a computational neuroscientist. You're a media person We have different perspectives, but at the end of the day when we work together We can come up with that unique solution, right a unique idea But if I'm doing it by myself, I do it in the skew of Scientists I'm not doing it with the skew of an artist or someone. I am all those other beautiful components that make a person Yeah, right. So they say men are visual beings and I bet it applies also to education So maybe you can take me through what you have on your board here. Okay Yeah, so quickly there's several steps towards design thinking they're about six There are multiple ways of doing design thinking but the way I do it I go through six steps and the first step is understanding what the challenge is So you clarify exactly what the challenge is because sometimes say I'm the one who's issuing the problem I may think this is my problem, but it's really not so as a collective will come together and Determine whether that's the actual problem and also create a shared language or a shared understanding as to what that problem is So here we gave an example, right? Maybe I'm in my challenge I have the word welcome, but not everybody understands welcome So if I change it to caribou the Swahili speakers will be like, oh, yeah I know what that means if I change it to be a venido the Spanish speakers will be like, yeah I get that if I change it to be a venue this French speakers will know I don't know how to say the German one, but you get what I'm saying, right? So we are all sharing the same language We all have the same understanding of what it is that we're talking about So the output is to come up with a problem statement once you do that, then you observe You create interview questions where you go and find out from the public or the users of the product that you're trying to solve for And so you listen you observe them You ask open-ended questions so that you can draw to the actual core of what the problem is So it's more of data gathering Data gathering is the next step What is the next step after data gathering? You do data gathering you find now you come and consolidate the the different points of views that they came up with and sort of share stories within your group and come up with capture all the aspects that you had and then you start clustering the ideas and you find more often than not People actually have similar thinking as to what are the similar ideas And so you start now clustering them into groups. Oh, this seemed the same this in the same This is why you bring the similar ideas together Yeah, or thinking the similar thinking together and then now your team will vote for one Problem that they would like to solve democracy implies everywhere, right? All right, so right after that. So as you develop a how might we statement? At the end of that process you'll write a statement that says how might we our team if it's Tim Shooja We call ourselves Tim Shooja. How might we help say Tim to Napanda to solve the problem of ensuring more experiential learning and in a sustainable environment so that we can have Students that are transforming the world, you know something like that How do we Yes, so now how might we brings us to now that do we we start ideating as a team So we'll do it individually fast by ourselves. We call it silent brainstorming after you done silent brainstorming Now you come up and explain what you are thinking behind that idea And it's really key to build on each other's ideas. We have a really strong thing where we say You cannot say no You say yes and Right, so if you say something instead of me shutting you down immediately So for instance, you say I like to build a sky scraper then I come and shut you down I'm like, well, you get the money from I don't think that's a good idea instead You go like that's an interesting idea And so how can we source for funding for your sky scraper? You see you haven't shut an idea You've added an element to allow for further thinking of the idea that you've come up So listening is a very important aspect in design thinking. What are the aspects? Do you think are very important in this process building up building on other people's ideas? I think is critical Apart from building on other people's ideas finally coming up with a prototype something that's tactile so that you can show them So this was the final idea we came up with and what do you think about it? So we'll test it with the person who brought up the challenge and once we've tested it You'll tell us ah, I don't think that's a good idea and immediately iterate So the whole idea behind design thinking is iterating through the processes So if you they say no, we don't think that that's a good idea then you go like Hmm, so did I misunderstand the problem go back and iterate until you come back here? But the whole idea is to fail fast fail often so that at the end of each I fail quickly so that you can come up eventually with a viable idea See this entire process you don't have you're not spending any money really you're just you're thinking and the time And so you have not if you're building software you haven't built the entire software, right? So when you finally test and it's approved by your users Then you can actually now put in the resources to build something you know that is desirable So the user is always the judge the consumer at the end of the day all right so I asked the big question I think the bigger question now is about the big four agenda and how does all this tie to the big four agenda according to you from your perspective? Okay, so how this ties into the big four agenda is design thinking allows for critical thinking Without critical thinking there's no way you're going to solve for any problem And so if we can take all the participants through the process of thinking using design thinking Then they can be able to solve for our problems and add their voice to the big four agenda So my name is Calvin Jodisi. I work with an organization called a St. Africa So we actually into the event space we do events that are more focused and geared towards Technology and innovation and entrepreneurship So some of the things that we do also in because we do also trainings So we still actually do about design thinking a bit we do things like Health innovation trainings we do like pitching stuff and all this kind of stuff Yeah, so what does design thinking mean to you? So design thinking is it's what what it means to me is it's basically coming up with the innovative approach or solution towards a particular problem. So it's more like And a collective way of coming up with innovative Solution to solve a particular problem in an organization or even in order for individual The big four the big four agenda is very diverse. So which means, you know, we have the health sector We have the affordable housing. We have the manufacturing And then we have yeah, so that's affordable housing and agriculture So definitely because it's also diverse so somebody can choose where you passionate about So if you're passionate about Let's say agriculture then you you will focus on working on the agriculture aspect or learning more in that particular space If you're passionate about building and affordable housing Then you could get yourself there if you're passionate like somebody like me who's also passionate about health So I get to understand what are some of the Solution for like uni universal health care and all those kind of stuff. So I think for me It's it's it's what you're passionate about and this is very exclusive of everyone But again, you know, the government will never hold your hand and tell you like, you know, you get to this house It's it's upon you to decide where you want to be Use the space. Yeah, so you create the space use the space and then push for opportunities Well, nobody will bring the opportunities for you Yes, we are still at the tech for b4 program brought to you by a hk and e4d Slash soger and with me here is Argyash and she's going to share with me Some of the reasons why she chose Kenya as a country and why she chose this particular approach Of design thinking to instill in this upcoming business businesses or SMEs in particular Argyash, I hope you know what Caribo means Yes, at least all right. Yes. All right. So maybe you can introduce yourself before we can carry on. Okay My name is Argyash Asfau. I'm working for the giz as a program director for sustainable economic development And e4d soga which means employment and skills for eastern Africa Which also incorporates make it program Why we are here today. All right So her why did you choose Kenya and in particular Nairobi for this particular event? Yeah, maybe to mention make it take entrepreneurship program. It's a German government initiative which has been Started in 2017 and we have two countries. It's a regional program implemented in Nigeria and Kenya So why we selected Kenya is I think as you are aware of Kenya is the hub for technology So it's very much advanced even compared to some of the European countries So Nigeria the same thing. So that's why we wanted actually to implement the tech entrepreneurship make it program in the two countries as a pilot so team of the day is design thinking and What does design thinking mean to you? Well design thinking is I think the startups the young people always create innovative ideas so that's where also the startup starts especially in the Technology area digital solutions There is a lot of thinking around it. So how to develop the product and also while developing the product This young entrepreneurs They face a lot of challenge. So such a gathering like today, which is organized by GIZ helps this startup by cooperating with Experienced corporates to generate ideas to solve problem. So design thinking means How can I solve a specific problem by exchanging my views with experienced corporates? And also the people who are actually buying my service. So it's not a top-down approach, but it's Bottom-up so it helps really to create a product which is very much market oriented By brainstorming in such a design thinking which is always the way to go. All right So I'm interested to know in what other ways are you helping the organizations the startups that you're working with? Apart from teaching them skills such as design thinking Well, we have been supporting in the last years around 50 startups The challenge most of the startups have it's not only a technology because the technology Thinking and bringing new ideas They bring it by themselves. The big challenge is how to combine the innovation with the business So these startups mostly need enterprise development training Where they learn how to establish a business, how can they access finances? How can also they develop their business in the future? the second one is how can they access the market also and How can we bring them to? Experienced Companies especially in Europe which are alliances of the MEC IT and Connects them with these enterprises so that they can be mentored They can share experiences and develop their businesses in the future. So all these training capacity development We have been accompanying these people for the last six months. All right Having lived in Kenya for almost a decade now Obviously, you've had of the big four gender Yes. All right. So some people critics will say it's very ambitious Considering the things that we see happening in the government right now. Do you think it's something that we can achieve and Even if we are to achieve it How are the ways we can incorporate the SMEs and that you're trying to support right here today in this particular program? I think the big four agenda of the Kenya government, of course, it is an ambitious Program or agenda But I think if many resources come together and there is a cooperation between different stakeholders I believe that it could be manageable, but it must be organized properly Especially when we think about SMEs The big four agenda especially focuses on employment also use employment, which is a big challenge in Kenya and many African countries So I think to address this problem It's not only we are Training young people for employment, but you have to create an Ecosystem which helps also startups SMEs to develop in the future so that when they grow there will be also Employers in the future. So in this way you can multiply actually the opportunity for young people For potential employment So I think the big four agenda must also support the ecosystem For investment for startups. This is a financing which is always a problem for startups So this infrastructure must be really ready so that we can achieve also the objective of the big four agenda Why so what's right there when you came up with this concept? I'm pretty sure you had a vision with it. What is going to make you happy the most when you live here today? What is going to make you happy? What is what will what is that one thing that is going to make you happy when you see? Happening to at the end of this particular meeting right here or conference. Yeah Today's conference is focused actually how startups contribute or how technology can contribute to the big four agenda So we brought around 100 people here. There are startups. They are cooperates There are also people who are really using the service of these startups So the design thinking as I mentioned before will help really to develop the product further So my big dream will be here really that the startups really get some input today How to develop their products forward? by combining their thinking between these three four different target groups Develop their business so that they can be big employers in the future Thank you very much for your time. We appreciate you keep doing what you're doing for the Kenyan youth and for the African youth at large We appreciate you guys. All right Yes, so that is our guest who is the program director for sustainable economic development and e4d slash soger So we're still at the tech for big four conference program and we have the participants that were put in groups to come up with Solution following the design thinking approach and we are going to be having winners at the end of this But with me right now pretty minor right here with me she's going to share with us a few Aspects of the big four agenda and if we have achieved anything so far that is a big question for you madam And but before we talk about that I'd like to know Why did you choose to partner with? Now I think the partnership with With a HK and giz if you're always looking for support and ideas on how One can improve In your own work So in our case we're quite keen on promotion of innovation and supporting startups and government has Needs to do that, but we don't really have a good understanding of how other government support that so the partnership with the giz and And the HK helps us to one Understand what the ecosystem looks like and to also will then We would work with them and also with yourselves and with other People in the ecosystem to then be able to develop the right policies to ensure that entrepreneurs can have Businesses that are sustainable because the startup space is so full of businesses that die in less than five years So we also need to know how we're going to build and support SMS to grow. Yes, and I know you HK being a German company people will always ask what is Kenya to learn from Germany in this case? I'll ask you what can Germany learn from Kenya Kenya being a tech hub in Africa? I think two things we will learn a lot we will learn a lot from Germany By the way, I think HK is an association of German business. So it's like a business association like KMO cap song I think the partnership is mutually Beneficial, we will obviously learn from Germany how they've grown their enterprises and how they have Supported them, but the character of businesses in Germany even with a small or large is also very different From the character of businesses here. So they will also be able To learn a lot of innovations have come out of here like the ones in financial services for instance because in in the West, there is a greater Diffusion of financial services and things like credit cards and you know and banks and many people have Now bank accounts in our case many people don't have bank accounts You don't have a large number of though. There are many banks now But even in terms of because you don't have too many people with bank accounts, but Mobile money is still big again. Yeah, but I'm saying that's the same But now our mobile money has become the solution for expansion of banking Which they didn't have and many people actually many parts of the world don't have Mobile money as you know as as as as a path for Savings, but you see what we have already done with mobile money is that you are now innovating Into that space and creating Opportunities for B2B interactions or Business to customer when we have things like Clipper 9-pesa. I mean payment of bills Now you're even using it for credit Mobilization with something like for Lisa so they were doing a lot with our mobile money space, which is something that they They can learn from so I do we have we have things to show and I think we should be very proud of ourselves Thank you very much and you know for a fact Kenyans are not a patient lot And we started talking about this before agenda a while back So and Kenyans like to see something tangible something physical is their progress You can show us whether physical or something Conceptual in terms of the big four agenda a lot a lot. We've spent obviously the last year Because the big four wasn't for the president announced it on December 12th 2017 so most of last year we spent time concretizing plans, but also implementation of some things for instance with a case like universal healthcare We actually have Concretize the plan and now you have pilots in four in in four in in four counties that was launched in In December in housing we have also seen a lot of conceptual development on how we can deliver affordable housing and also Create schemes for ensuring that the developers are Secure enough to know that they can support in this delivery because we through with the national Housing fund and the mortgage in a mortgage company. So that is at least has developed the Pillars for developers to support government with delivering in manufacturing for instance Something like I've been working on on cotton and textiles. I'm actually already seeing greater You know growth Planting more cotton. We have a textile mill ready to consume that product Already last year was out in terms of our textile exporters one of our focus areas It was we sold more than four hundred million Dollars worth of textiles to the American market, which is our largest our highest ever Performance. I'm working on leather and increasingly now you actually have many leather products And I'm sure you've seen the same many leather products available In the market with the automotive sector. We're making decisions within government on how to spur more assembly through Ensuring that government buys locally Assembled vehicles. So it's not actually just ideas. It's actually practical things and people and you're seeing and you're seeing results But it's early days yet. It's early days and Of course some of these plans for last year is building on plans that we have been working on because it's not a new concept We've manufacturing we've been developing it over time so We're just starting to see Thank you very much Onto my last question now Statistics show that an employment rate is very high in Kenya But the same statistics show that Kenyans are heavily transacting through these mobile money Platforms, which means they are found a way to make money some way somehow. So is it a good time to be An SME owner in Kenya right now. Is there hope for them? I think I think so. There's a there's hope I think what we'd like Kenyans like to say we hustle, but that hustle is business I think the best thing is that you need to also harness that into formal business that can grow so that you're not moving from shifting from one insecure Engagement and then something new brand idea comes and then you hustle that direction because no business grows from without Without tenacity and without you putting down roots and developing a product that people Wanting to buy so we really want to encourage even those guys who are doing the hustle as we call it What is it that you're doing and how can you? Harness that and and make sure that it's got opportunities for growth Thank you very much madam PS and keep the vision alive. All right. Thank you very much. All right Cheers Yeah, so we have come to the end of this the tech for before conference brought to you by a HK Live at the alchemist I go by the name of by Moses or it's by more than every social media platform So if you're planning to get into the startups or if you're planning to start something on your own Hope you learn something from from the design thinking workshop. So shout out to Frank behind the camera Shout out to Manuo shout out to Max shout out to my side KTA and shout out to Kate as well And everybody who made this possible Bye-bye