Design Thinking for Innovators

How will this course benefit you?

Design thinking is a human-centered creative process that helps you solve real problems. The key to design thinking is understanding the needs of your end-user. When combined with co-creation, design thinking leverages the power of collaboration, as problems are best solved by those who experience them. This course will help you look at the bigger ecosystem around your business, encourage fresh ideas, thinking through making, and how to adapt your solution to the market needs.

What to expect:

This course is made up of three mini-courses:

Discovering Design Thinking
Understanding your Customer
Developing Agile Solutions.

We recommend completing the courses chronologically, but after completing course 1, you can also pick and choose individual topics of courses 2 and 3, depending on your needs!

Courses by Butterfly Works: Design Thinking for Innovators

Discovering Design Thinking

In Discovering Design Thinking you will gain a better understanding of design thinking and its benefits. You will dive into the steps of the design thinking process, common vocabulary and mindset exercises.

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The modules

Modules

An introduction to design thinking & co-creation
Design thinking phases and mindsets
Problem solving with innovators

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Understanding your Customer

In Understanding your Customer you will apply your knowledge to real problems and how to solve them. This course looks more in-depth at challenges and user needs, helping you validate your business model and align with market needs.

416 Members already started this course 0% Course overview

The modules

Modules

Ahmed's Story
Solving the customer's problem
Try it yourself!

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Developing Agile Solutions

In Developing Agile Solutions you are going to learn by doing! With some quick and easy ways to validate your idea, you can bring your solution to the market faster.

315 Members already started this course 0% Course overview

The modules

Modules

Jane's Story
Bringing your solution to the market faster
Try it yourself!

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Overview

Commitment: 3 mini-courses, 3 hours approximately per mini-course
Language: English
How to pass: Read all modules and complete each quiz
Requirements: Create a VC4A account to log in and sign up
Additional features: Join our design thinking learning community

Content

Introduction to the value of design thinking for your business and context

Content-based on real challenges faced by entrepreneurs

Practical examples and real cases from African entrepreneurs

Quizzes to identify challenges and test yourself on new theories

Templates and guides to apply the methods to your own context

Interactive tools and reading materials to apply to your own business

Learning group to share challenges and learn from each other’s experiences

Creators of this course

Butterfly Works is a social design studio working in international development. We’re here to create a world in which people have a say in the future they want. With a co-creation and design approach, and building on 20 years of experience, we create education and communication solutions with social impact. We act as the innovation, research, technical and scale-up partner. By co-creating with stakeholders, every solution is based on shared values and people’s needs. It means that all our work is tailor-made; never copy-paste, always human-centered.

Through research, project development, and partnerships Butterfly Works has been involved in a long-term dialogue with several Entrepreneurial Support Organisations (ESOs), hubs, trainers, and entrepreneurs to understand their challenges, needs, and preferences in building successful businesses. The resources and cases featured in this course highlight some of the most pressing challenges faced by the entrepreneurial community. The materials are based on Butterfly Works’ experience using design thinking to support African entrepreneurs with different partners over the past years.

About the programme

This work is done as part of the Work in Progress Alliance. Work in Progress! alliance (WiP) aims to tackle youth unemployment by enabling young people to access jobs and start their own business.

Alliance members: Oxfam, Butterfly Works, VC4A.
When: 2016 – 2023
Financed by: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands