Official documentation of the Impact Weeks in Rwanda, Nigeria, Columbia and Kenya 2017

1. Documentation
2017

2. 3
ACHIEVEMENTS
2017
participated on-site:
75 Colombia
100 Rwanda
144 Nigeria
56 Kenya
Students
were generated:
14 Colombia
18 Rwanda
22 Nigeria
8 Kenya
New ideas ... and countless
stories and new
friendships.
Colombia
Rwanda
Nigeria
Kenya
Impact Weeks
from eight different
countries:
24 Colombia
22 Rwanda
26 Nigeria
8 Kenya
Coaches
on-site as
Design Thinking
Coaches
People trained

3. 4 5
IMPACT WEEK
IS OFF TO NEW
SHORES
Kenya. After two amazing years working
with students in Nairobi it was time to
bring the Impact Week to entirely new
places and tackle entirely different
challenges.
Kenya. After two amazing years working
with students in Nairobi it was time to
bring the Impact Week to entirely new
places and tackle entirely different
challenges.
03-13 Oct 2017 01-03 Nov 2017
The Impact Week has started in its third
year of fostering entrepreneurship and
cultural exchange through design
thinking and for the first time it has
ventured to other countries besides
19-29 Sep 2017 20-26 Oct 2017

4. 6 7
TRAIN THE
TRAINER
All Impact Weeks start with our Train the
Trainer Workshops. During the two days
preparing for the Impact Week Event
all coaches go through the steps of the
Design Thinking process in the same way
the students will be during the Impact
Week Event. Past years have shown that
not only working hands-on with students
on existing problems has a great effect
on their learning and understanding of
a human centered approach, but also
providing the same space for coaches
allows to understand all perspectives.
The sessions help to reflect on how to
coach a group of students that will find
themselves in similar situation the
following week.
This approach of passing on knowledge
and enabling is true to our purpose of
fostering Entrepreneurship through
Design Thinking in order to support a
form of sustainable and impactful
development. Learning how to facilitate
Design Thinking Workshops in our Train
the Trainer Sessions enables all
participants to take the coaching role
in the future and multiples the effect
through independently organized Impact
Weeks themselves.
The Impact Week introduces the process
of Design Thinking all throughout the
event while all teams work on their given
topics.
With new input at relevant stages of the
developing process the students are
able to focus on their task and rely on
receiving relevant information and
support at each stage of the process.
Supported by experts of the different
topics local and guest speakers who
shared their experience the program
provided the students with inspiration
and spread the aspirational spirit to
encourage students to start their own
business venture.
DESIGN THINKING

5. 8 9
The first Impact Week of 2017 has brought
the entrepreneurial and creative spirit to
Bogotá, Colombia. The event has been
hosted by La Universidad de Bogotá Jorge
Tadeo Lozano, also referred to as UTADEO.
Following their vision „Innovamos: nuestra
esencia“ („we innovate: it is our essence“)
the university actively promotes research,
innovation and creation in all academic
areas. Thus, the Faculty of Arts & Design
together with the collaboration of the
Faculty of Social Sciences, and the school
of engineering, has been the perfect
place to host the Impact Week 2017.

6. 10 11
THE TRACK TOPICS
The Impact Week Colombia has
welcomed 75 students from a wide variety
of fields of expertise at UTADEO.
Having come together in interdisciplinary
teams all participants discovered needs
and and took peoples‘ Point of View in
order to develop relevant ideas.
Education
Education is key to end violence and
secure peace and stabilisation in Colom-
bia by making education accesible and
reachable.
Fair Trade
Fair Trade is key to prevent poverty and
a model for longterm development of
Colombia’s international trade relations,
healthcare and community work.
Tourism
To secure the great variety in geography,
flora and fauna it is important to explore
sustainable tourism: socially,
environmentally, and economically.
Regional Development
Develop entrepreneurial and creative
approaches after years of poverty,
violence and armed conflict.
Public Policy
Reduce instability due to corruption by
improving accountability and ensuring
transparent political activities.
regional development tou
regional development publtourism
regional development public policy fairtourism
regional development edupublic policy fair tradetourism
regional development educationpublic policy fair tradetourism
Track Leads
Education: Alejandra Galindo; Regional Develop-
ment: Susa Schmid; Tourism: Juli Sikorska; Fair
Trade: Lena Voegele; Public Policy: Alicia Roth
The South American country known
for its incredibly hospitable people and
entrepreneurial mindset is still tainted by
social inequality and criminal activities.
But Colombia is in a great state of change
and thus provides an array of opportuni-
ties for impactful ideas.
Colombia located in the norther part of
South America is home to 46 million
people and the fourth largest economy of
the continent. However the economic
development has been limited by 50 years
of conflict between Colombian govern-
ment, paramilitary groups, and guerrillas
such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia (FARC). In 2016 the Colom-
bian peace accord ended the longest-
running armed conflict and launched
the peace process to reintegrate former
fighters and foster reconciliation.
Born from the vision of Michael Koegel
and Camila Lombana the Impact Week
Colombia brings well known tools to the
country that is in great transformation.
It allows people to develop sustainable
solutions instead of importing finished
concepts that are not empathetic to the
local culture.
With an international team of 23 people
Impact Week Colombia set out to support
the students at La Universidad Jorge
Tadeo Lozano to see challenges in their
environment as business opportunities
and entrepreneurship as a potential for
the future.
WHY COLOMBIA?

7. 12 13
IDEATE
PROTOTYPE
TEST
During the Impact Week participants
who have never worked together,
collaborate in interdisciplinary teams.
Additional workshops such as a sketching
sessions help introducing new methods
and ways of thinking to the Design
Thinking process. It also supports smooth
collaboration of such teams and further
facilitated productive team communi-
cation under a highly political topic.
UNDERSTAND
OBSERVE
POINT OF VIEW

8. 14 15
1. FRUIT JAMMERS - Fair Trade
Coach: T. Schiffbauer
A project that aims to close the gap
between farmer and final consumer
through an app that connects consumers
directly with farmers providing vegetables
readily prepared for cooking.
2. PARCERIA - Public Policy
Coach: C. Lombana / J.-J. Martin
By creating a board game, the idea of
this project is to bring politics back to the
people by making it fun, non discrimina-
tive, and accessible.
3. TURISMO DE IMPACTO - Tourism
Coach: J.-E. Herrmann / J. Londoño
Turismo de Impact is an App which allows
local citizens to offer services like accom-
modation and activities to tourists from
around the world.
4. THE EQUALIZERS - Fair Trade
Coach: D. Tobisch
Regular networking events connect SENA
students, e.g. demobilized people, and
entrepreneurs to share knowledge, ideas
and to enable the students to find job and
business opportunities.
5. POLIART - Fair Trade
Coach: C. Gunkelmann / J.-J. Martin
Poliart is an App that enables farmers to
sell their products at fair prices directly to
consumers while it regulates the influence
of intermediaries.
We encouraged students to rethink the
world they live in to make a change. We are
excited to support them and their venture
to become social entrepreneurs and start a
business that shall positively impact their
country and make a move towards making
the world a better place.
After 4 days of ideating, prototyping and
testing ideas the Impact Week termina-
ted with the Impact Awards. All 14 teams
were eager to take the chance and use
opportunities that are currently coming
up in Colombia. Subsequently they
presented visionary and inspiring ideas
to make a social impact in their own
country. They have not only gone through
the process of learning and applying the
methodology of Design Thinking, but also
experienced new team dynamics as they
were put in interdisciplinary teams with
students they had never met before.
The teams presented their vision for
Colombia through their idea and business
model in a 3 minute pitch. With concepts
ranging from board games to events
seeking to strengthen Colombian com-
munities, the students have covered all
aspects of life in Colombia. The idea that
convinced the judges and won the first
price of 5.000.000 Pesos was „Gusto
Justo“. However the Impact Awards
reward more than just one winning team.
The first 5 teams and their idea have
received prize money that shall be used
for entrepreneurial mentoring and incu-
bation programs in order to sustainably
establish the startups and support them in
the long run.
Additionally UTADEO together with
C-innova, a local lab, has ensured to
support all participants that are interested
in developing their ideas and bringing it to
life.
IMPACT
AWARD
WINNERS

9. 16 17
IMPRESSIONS
Ivan Dario Castaño,
Deputy Director of Sectorial Digitalizati-
on,Ministry of Information Technology and
Communications
http://www.mintic.gov.co
David Hernandez, CEO Ludofono
Track: Education
www.ludofono.co
Alexander Freese,
Co-Founder and Director at C-Innova
Track, Regional Development
https://www.c-innova.org/
Juan Fernando Giraldo,
CEO –Founding partner Buho Lab
Track: Public Policy
http://www.buho.media/en/sobre-buho
Rodrigo Lozano, Deputy Director of
rural economy, Mayor‘s Office of Bogotá
Track: Tourism
http://www.desarrolloeconomico.gov.co/
GUEST SPEAKER
Gina Alejandra Jimenez,
Proyecto ComproAgro, App created to
eliminate the intermediaries for the local
producers in Boyacá
Track: Fair Trade
http://www.comproagro.com

10. 18 19
THANKS TO ALL
WHO MADE THIS
POSSIBLE
The Organization Team
Michael Koegel
Camila Lombana
Andrea Lemke
Alexander Grots
The Coaches
Alejandra Galindo
Lena Voegele
Alicia Roth
Susa Schmid
Juli Sikorska
Our sponsors:The Team
Christoph Zacher
Ramona Leichtl
Sina Marleen Petersen
Eve Cecon
Tomas Schiffbauer
Alana Gahler
Hartmut Klose
Jan Erik Herrmann
Celina Gunkelmann
Danny Tobisch
Eva Hasenbalg
The Impact Week does not only provide
value to the local participants, the team
members from Germany, Switzerland
and the U.S also have the opportunity to
learn and grow personally through the
experience.
With a passion of moving things forward
and great enthusiasm for working with
people and getting to know different
cultures the team did not only share
their expertise but also took some time
to explore the country. Gaining an under-
standing for the culture and local needs
is crucial for working on issues that are
unique to the South American country
and thus crucial for Colombia’s develop-
ment as a whole.
EXPLORING
COLOMBIA
// by Sina Marleen Petersen

11. 20 21
The first Impact Week in Africa outside
Kenya took place in one of the most vi-
brant startup hotspot in Africa and has be
hosted by the Technical Highschool of the
SOS Children‘s villages in Kigali.
During the event the 100 pupils and
alumnis worked together with their
teachers and employees from local
government organizations and NGO‘s
on different topics.

12. 22 23
A factor that is highly important to our
approach, education is a highly relevant
pillar of the SOS Child Village to over-
come the existing problems. It is of
upmost importance to ensure that
children have access to essential edu-
cation, as “a new generation of qualified
professionals is urgently needed” (Princi-
pal SOS H.G. Technical High School).
75 children attend the SOS Kindergar-
den and 650 pupils are part of the SOS
primary school in Kigali and 246 students
also have the option of attending the SOS
Vocational Training Centre. Apart from
that, the SOS H.G. Technical High School
opened in 2005 with departments elec-
tricity, accountancy, carpentry, compu-
SOS Child Village
ter sciences as well as electronics and
telecommunication. The objective of the
school is to provide training in technical
field to SOS youth as well as youth from
the community in order to increase youth
employment opportunities and to
contribute to national development by
upholding a culture of excellence,
continuous improvement, benchmarking
and innovation.
According to the motto “Education-
Progress-Excellence” Kiba Muvunyi
states: “We are focusing to individualize
the training in order to enhance trainee’s
skills and increase the employability
opportunity of our graduate. The school
possesses modern equipment as well as
highly qualified trainers. Positive attitude
and discipline is our major focus as well
because we believe that these contribute
to human development.”
Moreover, the school is preparing and
supporting youth to become responsible,
conscientious and committed citizens, as
well as excellent future leaders paving
the way for sustainable development of
Rwandan and global society.
WHY KIGALI?
Rwanda has developed into one of the
most progressive countries in Africa, with
a growing economy offering a lot of
potential for the Impact Week. Thereby,
Kigali with its aim to become the smar-
test city of Africa, is of specific interest
for our project. On one hand a good
infrastructure to build on but on the other
hand the city and the rural surrounding
area is facing some delicate challenges.
However, the living conditions for
thousands of families remain incredibly
difficult in Kigali due to the massacre in
1994, that lasted 100 days and killed one
million people.
Even though much of the city retains a
rural character – water supply, sanitation,
electricity, waste collection, and drainage
are only partly available – the trend
towards urbanization is likely to continue,
and the demand for infrastructure and
services will become progressively
greater.
Especially children and young people
in Kigali face tough living conditions:
between 5,000 and 10,000 children live
on the streets. A huge amount of these
young people experienced the terrible
events of 1994, and many of them lost
their family.
In order to address these problems the
SOS Child Village Kigali is working on
new approaches to offer support for
street children, to strengthen families
and provide health care.

13. 24 25
IDEATE
PROTOTYPE
TEST
The second part of the Impact Week was
filled with a lot of brainstorming, proto-
typing and testing of ideas. Especially the
usage of simple materials like paper and
glue to make ideas tangible and testable
was for most of the participants a
completely new approach.
During the first two days it was all about
a better understanding of the problem
in general and the special user needs
in the area. To learn from people about
their problems the teams went out on the
streets and conducted interviews. Based
on their findings this all teams defined a
reframed and focused problem statement
as part of the first Design Thinking phase.
UNDERSTAND
OBSERVE
POINT OF VIEW

14. 26 27
card, “Tap and Treat”, allowing the
patients to administer their own data and
receive immediate help if necessary at
their current location. Team Blue Tech
is seeking to revolutionize the Rwandan
Health Care System!
Team UNIT
Solving the problem of access to farming
information. The solution is to have a
demonstrations site. In addition, provide a
mobile truck with a model of the farming
site and techniques to help reach out to
farmers in remote sites. A mobile smart-
phone app to be incorporated for farmers
who are smart in mobile technology.
Team FLASH
Solving the problem off electrical supply
by setting up a service whereby people
can get on call or chat support to fix
electrical problems or get a professional
at home to do it for them. Professionals
can also follow train the trainer courses
to increase their skills.
The last day was Pitch Day and all teams
got 3 minutes to pitch their idea to a jury
with members from different local com-
panies and organizations. At the end the
winner teams got prize money however
ALL teams and participants will get sup-
port to continue to work on their ideas.
Team KESO COMMERCE
How can we help Small Business
Owners (SBOs) in Rwanda increase their
customer base? We developed the Keso
Bridge, which is a platform that connects
expert and experienced web developers
and transport companies, so that the
Bridge becomes a one-stop-shop for all
e-commerce needs. Keso Commerce will
also have meeting points where SBOs
and the experts will be able to meet
face-to-face, in line with African Tradition.
Keso Bridge will also host profiles from
the experts so that Keso Commerce can
make money from every profile on their
platform in addition to revenue brought in
from advertising on their site.
Team Blue Tech
The public health care system in
Rwanda is still lacking in many areas.
Thus, patients are still suffering due to
the lack of appropriate treatment every
day. Therefore, it was of utmost relevance
for the team to design a new and centra-
lized health care infrastructure with the
help of smart technology. Inspired by the
smart transportation system,“Tap and
Go”, they came up with a smart insurance
IMPACT
AWARD
WINNERS

15. 28 29
IMPRESSIONS
Yan Kwizera – With a decade of
experience involved in building, growing
and managing startups, Yan is a product
go-to-market specialist with an African
experience where he has occupied key
roles in some of the most interesting
companies. He is an active member of
the Sub Sahara Africa ICT ecosystem, as
a startup mentor, project contributor and
early stage startups investor.
Jonathan Stever – Co-Founder and
Acting Director of the Impact Hub Kigali.
He believes that community building
and bottom-up innovation is the key to
development and the creation of a better
future for Rwanda and for the world.
Gilbert Saggia – Managing Director SAP
East Africa. Business Professional with
ICT Industry Leadership and Operation
Management, Strategic Business Plan-
ning and Diversity Team Execution for 15+
years.
GUEST SPEAKER

16. 30 31
THANKS TO ALL
WHO MADE THIS
POSSIBLE
The Organization Team
Jens Unger
Jochen Gürtler
Angela Haas
Julia Wenzel
Benjamin Rückriegel
The Coaches
Sabine Muth
Rebecca Davis
Leonie Fremgen
Johannes Joppien
Amrei Kellner
Jörn Brücker
Our sponsors:The Team
Jason Terschüren
Stina Kozok
Sylvia Hanschmann
Björn Eckermann
Elena Völkel
Eva Hamann
Daniel Thür
Noemi Pich
Christine Wenzel
Yorick Buys
Sebastaan Spijkers
Kendi Muchungi
James Obuhuma
As there is no better way to experience
a country than to experience it, the team
members from Germany, Austria,
Belgium, Switzerland and Kenya also
used the time in Kigali also to get in
contact with locals during a Hip-Hop
concert, to enjoy the beautiful wildlife and
nature of the Akagera national park and
to learn also about the difficult parts of
Rwanda‘s history by visiting the genocide
museum in Kigali.
EXPLORING
RWANDA
// by Jochen Guertler

17. 32 33
The final Impact Week for 2017 has
brought the design thinking fever to La-
gos, Nigeria and was hosted by UNILAG,
the University of Lagos. The university
has established a Center for Innovation
in 2017, thus welcoming the participants
of Impact Week was a perfect opportunity
to further the innovation spirit within the
university.

18. 34 35
THE TRACK TOPICS
The Impact Week Lagos took place at
UNILAG, the University of Lagos. The
university recently established an
Innovation Center to support students
with entrepreneurial ambitions and the
center hosted the impact week in the
name of UNILAG. Overall, 156 students
from numerous departments within the
university have participated. On top,
several professors supported the teams
as junior coaches and will continue to
teach the spirit of design thinking even
after the impact week has finished.
Tourism
With little to almost non-existing
tourism, this track focused on how to
attract tourists to Nigeria to create
additional income sources for locals.
Finance
Sustainable ideas revolving around the
topic finance often prove to be profitable
while making an impact. The teams
focused on financial topics with a lasting
impact on everyday life in Nigeria.
Technology
Being often called the Silicon Valley of
West Africa, the technology track is a
natural give – focusing on the entrepre-
neurial spirit that is present in the city of
Lagos.
Education
Education is key to bringing any country
forward. By educating people, perspecti-
ves are offered and life is stabilized.
Commerce
Having a big commercial tradition as part
of its culture, the commercial track is a
must for a Nigerian Impact Week. The
teams focused on commercial ideas that
are innovative and cater to commercial
interests.
Health
All over the world health is a major topic.
In Nigeria, with medical attention offering
room for improvement and diseases such
as Malaria posing as a serious issue,
health as a topic is very important.
WHY LAGOS?
When the team, consisting of 21 senior
and junior coaches as well as organisers,
set off to Lagos, reactions from friends
and colleagues, as well as own
expectations were mixed.
Most people don’t expect Nigeria to be a
center for innovation and new technology.
On the contrary, most associate it with
civil unrest and many know Lagos for its
close to 10 million inhabitants, as well as
its crime rate and thus being a dangerous
place to live. Different cultural back-
grounds with different languages (415
languages and idioms) and different
religions make it a diverse country to
experience.
What most do not know about Lagos
though is that it is the biggest national
economy on the African continent and
West Africa’s “innovation incubator“
which harbours many start-ups and
entrepreneurs. With a little diversified
economy that is strongly dependent on its
oil reserves (close to 90% of export re-
venue) and a global climate of stagnating,
if not decreasing oil prices, the country is
forced to look for new economic oppor-
tunities, thus a vivid entrepreneurial
scene has developed in the country.
11 employees from Lufthansa Group, as
well as 9 international experts ventured
to Lagos in October 2017 where they
joined with 6 local Lufthansa colleagues
to support the local professors and stu-
dents with their Design Thinking journey
and develop sustainable business ideas.

19. 36 37
GUEST SPEAKER
Adebisi Idowu / Social Media Influencer
Ms Idowu spoke on the opportunity of
finding needs even on campus to start
business on a small scale and thus ma-
ximizing also the university community
market.
Adebola Williams / CEO StateCraft Inc,
Co-Founder RED
Mr. Williams, a motivational speaker by
heart, spoke on the use of social media
to actually make an impact and presen-
ted his example where he helped three
presidential aspirants in Africa to actually
win office.
Jackson Ugbada/ CEO Neito Energy Ltd
Mr. Ugbada gave a motivational speech to
the students encouraging their develop-
ment and their striving for achievement
Sola Adeniyi/ CEO Heirs Farms Ogba
Mr. Adeniyi spoke on opportunities in
agricultural business which presents
interesting business cases in Nigeria.
Each student team presented their idea
in a 3 minute pitch on stage in front of
a jury: they introduced the team and
detailed the value to potential customers,
the business model, as well as the inno-
vation’s social impact.
Although all ideas were great and each
presentation was amazing and unique,
three ideas convinced the jury the most:
1st – Waste Treasurer/ Technology Team
The team’s idea is on the management
of waste materials by using 3 in 1 waste
baskets (separating waste by type: paper,
bottles, and degradables), which will be
available to a bigger community that gets
incentivized for the usage. The trash will
be collected by specialized trash cars and
made available to recyclers.
2nd – Easyfare/ Finance Team
The team wants to facilitate the payment
system in the buses by creating a new
service for payment (cashless) making
the payment fast and secure and the ride
faster and safer. The team prototyped how
it would work and how the experience for
the drivers and passengers would look
like.
3rd – Hub Knobs/ Commerce Team
The team developed the idea of a soft-
ware solution that connects artisans to
(potential) customers and users of their
services and thus facilitates and increa-
ses valuable business.
IMPACT
AWARD
WINNERS

20. 38 39
IMPRESSIONSIMPRESSIONS

21. 40 41
THANKS TO ALL
WHO MADE THIS
POSSIBLE
The Organization Team
Jens Unger
Alexander Grots
Richard Seip
Senior Coaches
Paloma Roldán
Lucia Ruiz
Yvonne Martin Rygiert
Eileen Mandir
Rasmus Koefoed-Jespersen
Natasha Saipradist
Beverly Jiang
Sierra Nelmes
Junior Coaches
Brendan Colin Shashoua
Pierre Brague
Laura Badusch
Jens Stapelfeldt
Christian Pohl
Our sponsors:Gesina Zöller
Hessel Reimerink
Marcus Hagenbruch
Katharina Reimann
Nadja Assfalg
Adewale Saheed Sanni
Tolulope Aminu
Marcus Gyang R
Dare Olarewaju
Olatunde Odelowo
Hakeem Jimoh
Considering that none of the non-
Nigerian team members have ever ex-
plored Nigeria or experienced Nigerian
culture before, the time spent with
splendid hosts on and off campus out-
side of design thinking sessions was just
as valuable. The team got to experience
a dance performance by UNILAG’s arts
faculty, relaxed on one of Nigerias
spectacular beaches, enjoyed yummy food,
danced the night away with the university
staff, learned about Nigerian art and the
long tradition of fabric dye, and – bridging
both work and pleasure – conducted
expert interviews in a local market.
EXPLORING
NIGERIA
// by Nadja Assfalg.

22. 42 43
Kenya
Nairobi
After two years of Impact Week Kenya
initiated and supported by a team of for-
eign coaches, the first independent
Impact Week was hosted by previous
participants in Kenya this year. This
shows the great effect of the previous
work with students and teachers and the
impact that has been created. Impact
Week has managed to evolve itself and
become an autonomous force.

23. 44 45
IMPACT WEEK –
DAY 1
The main Impact Week event was kicked
off on Wednesday 1st November with a
total of 7 tracks: Health, Finance, Cos-
metics, Education, Agriculture, Transport
and Security each with a maximum of 8
participants. Each track was under the
guidance of one coach, some having two
coaches. Due to the limited number of
coaches with varied experience levels,
only the Health track was split into two
teams with the rest of the tracks working
as a single team. Hence there was a total
of 8 teams each working on a different
ideas.
Day 1 focussed on the Understand and
Observe phases. Each team identified a
design challenge within the track through
mind mapping. They further formulated
a research plan and interview questions.
The afternoon of Day 1 was spent at
Rongai Town gathering data from real
users as part the Observe phase.
TRAINER´S
REFRESHER
Africa Nazarene University started the
long dreamed of journey of running our
own annual Impact Week on Design
Thinking. The event started with a won-
derful busy day of trainers’ refresher
session. 11 coaches turned up for the
event, three of whom were recently
trained in Rwanda as Junior Coaches.
The participants worked in the design
challenge „smart city“. This helped
take the coaches through all the Design
Thinking phases: Understand, Observe,
Synthesis, Ideate, Prototype and Test.
Coaches extensively went through the
Understand, Observe, Synthesis and
Ideate phases with the main problem
being identified to be “Water Supply” and
the idea being “Coming out with mecha-
nisms for harvesting and purification of
water”. It was evident that a great impact
was left behind in Africa. This was not
only for generating solutions to problems
but also the knowledge imparted to
Kenyan and Rwandan junior coaches
through the Train the Trainer session in
2016. All the 11 coaches were enthusia-
stic and committed to coaching a team
during the three days Impact Week.

24. 46 47
IMPACT WEEK –
DAY 3
Day 3 was more iterative on the Proto-
typing and Testing phases during which
teams were busy transforming their
idea into tangible outputs. A number of
teams moved out to seek for user feed-
back as they improve on the prototypes.
The Prototyping phase was guided by 10
principles: make it visual and tangible;
embrace a beginner’s mind; don’t fall in
love with first idea; feel comfortable in a
liquid state; start with low fidelity, iterate
and refine; expose your work early; learn
faster by failing early, often and cheaply;
use creativity techniques; create shrek
models; and track learning insights and
progress. The Business Model Canvas
was used extensively to position the ideas
business wise. By midday, pitch training
was the order of the event as teams
prepared to sell their ideas within three
minutes. At exactly 3:00pm, the stage
was set for pitching. Three main ideas
were selected to have been well thought
through with great impact factors and
business models. These were Badilisha,
Utano and Agri Biz teams from Education,
Health and Agriculture tracks respec-
tively. Plans are underway to have the
three winning teams pitch in an establis-
hed hub for incubation to help realize the
ideas.
IMPACT WEEK –
DAY 2
Day 2 focused on Synthesis and Ideate
phases. In the morning, all teams started
by unpacking the data that was collected
from users the day before using story-
telling and identification of users, likes,
needs, and insights. This was followed by
pattern identification through clustering
then voting for a user and need to focus
on. By midday, all teams were having a
persona and point of view (POV) for their
design challenge. The Ideate phase
followed in the afternoon. This was achie-
ved in three main stages: silent brainstor-
ming 20 ideas in 3 minutes; association
based on constraints; and finally building
on ideas of others using the Idea Canvas.
The idea selection matrix was then used
to pick the idea to work on based on
strength of the idea compared to the pos-
sibilities. Based on that some teams were
able to start prototyping late evening as
others opted to refine on the ideas first.

25. 48 49
an entrepreneur and emphasized on the
importance of passion, patience in busi-
ness, focus on the people and a product
which meets a specific need. She shared
her entrepreneurial journey and how she
overcame challenges of dominance in the
market by offering a unique product th
On Day 3, our guest from the industry
acted as a judge for the Impact Week
2017 pitching competition. Mr. Benson
Kivuitu is the Relationship Manager,
Ecobank Limited Kenya. He actively
participated as a member of the jury
during pitching. He posed constructive
questions to teams particularly with
respect to Business Modeling and viability
of the ideas.
Design Thinking meet-up so that they can
get more information and knowledge on
that process.
Our second speaker for Day 2 was Ms.
Ruth Mwanzia, an Entrepreneur (Director
Koola Ltd) and Business Coach at AfriBiz.
Ruth is a an alumni of ANU where she
graduated with a Mass Communication
degree. She runs a successful water bott-
ling company, which she started immedi-
ately after her undergraduate studies as a
start up. Ruth talked about her journey as
Ruth Mwanzia
Dr. Shiko Gitau
This year we had speakers from the
industry talking about Innovation and
Entrepreneurship. The Day 1 Keynote
speaker was Dr. Shiko Gitau, the Head of
Products Innovation at Safaricom Ltd,
the largest mobile telecommunication
company in East Africa and the most
profitable company in East Africa.
Dr. Gitau, who is a Computer Science
alumni of ANU shared her experiences of
User Experience specialist and innovation
adviser on companies such as Google,
Mercy Corps International, Africa
Development bank among others. Her
talk inspired students on how they can
always build products that users love and
those which impact their lives. She gave
an example of her PhD project which she
did in South Africa focusing on creating
employment opportunities. To date, the
system has over 1 million users and is
transforming many lives.
On Day 2, the guest speaker was Mr. Silas
Macharia, the Innovation Center Leader
at IBM East Africa whose office is located
in Nairobi. Silas is also an IBM Design
Thinking practitioner with experiences in
product design and development using
the IBM Design Thinking process. During
his talk, he focussed on his experiences
with development of products at IBM
and working with users. He took time to
explain the IBM Design Thinking process,
and how it interfaces with the Design
Thinking process used for Impact Week.
The ANU coaches expressed their interest
to know more about the IBM Design
Thinking process. As a follow up to this,
Silas will invite ANU coaches in an IBM
GUEST
SPEAKERS
Silas Macharia

26. 50 51
IMPRESSIONS

27. 52 53
THANKS TO ALL
WHO MADE THIS
POSSIBLE
Organizing Team
1. School of Business
2. School of Science & Technology
Lead Coaches
1. James Obuhuma (Moderator)
2. Kendi Muchungi
Coaches
1. Amos Gichamba
2. Caleb Aringa
3. Maureen Kinoti
4. Stephen Githii
5. John Ngila
6. Peter Mugambi
7. Jean Pierre Karambiza
8. Willy Manirakiza
9. Doriane Ishimwe
FEEDBACK
SUMMARY
What Went on Well
The overall organization and execution of
the event was great. Teams were able to
be formed on Day 1 and there was very
slight or no fall-offs within the week.
The participants and the coaches were
committed for the 3 days until the end of
the event.
The quality of ideas was great, leading to
very close competitions during the pitch
since most ideas were valid and viable.
We had support from 3 junior coaches
from Rwanda. They participated very well,
and one of them co-coached the winning
team.
Challenges
The time period for the whole event was
short. This was due to the strained time
during the Sept-Dec trimester which was
shortened as a result of political activities
in Kenya.
Raising support from sponsors. The
organizers had approached a number of
organizations to support the event finan-
cially but none had committed monetary
contributions. Most of them alluded to the
challenging business environment and
economic downtime in the country due to
the political season.
What should be improved on
We intend to start planning very early in
order to get partners and sponsors for
Impact Week 2018.
// by James Obuhuma

28. 54
We foster innovation,
entrepreneurship
and intercultural exchange
through Design Thinking.

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