22 Jan 2018

 Idea Farms, an international innovation consultancy company with expertise in design thinking and digital technology has partnered with BA ISAGO University on design thinking programmes.

Speaking during a partnership launch in Gaborone recently, Idea Farms representative Mr Vivek Wadhera said design thinking would prepare Botswana to survive and strive from now and beyond. 

Mr Wadhera described design thinking as the 21^st century skills that matched people’s needs and created value for customers using feasible technology. 

He pointed out that schools should be able to produce graduates eligible to create jobs for themselves and other youths. 

Relating to lack of jobs with changes experienced in the 21^st century, Mr Wadhera said graduates were not risk takers hence the high levels of unemployment. 

He said in order to survive now and beyond the world needed mind-set change.

He said focusing on the end user was one viable principle aimed at developing useful products and services that fit the needs of the user. 

Structured framework and roadmap in problem solving that focus on understanding and pursuing innovation and add value to customers were identified as disciplines of design thinking. 

Seminars and workshops were held to impart 21^st  century skills in various groups of people. 

Mr Wadhera further said design thinking provided understanding the underlying problem to help identify innovative solutions, adding that connecting with diverse cultures of customers could also benefit design thinking.  

For his part, BA ISAGO vice president -academic affairs and research, Mr Ruramayi Tadu pointed out that the university aimed at producing adoptable and employable graduates. 

Mr Tadu said the partnership was mainly aimed at infusing design thinking into BA ISAGO curriculum making the collaboration the first university initiative of its kind in Botswana. ENDS