On becoming an Innovator – An Impactful Journey

Whilst reflecting on the recently concluded four weeks, I have look at myself in the mirror with so much gratitude. “Why am I filled with this immense amount of gratitude?” I ask myself...

I am grateful for “The Innovate for Africa Training”, as it has made me see beyond my initial limitations and I have been set on a more vivid path to see things differently. I used to think that “innovation” was only for “geeks” but now I see this from a different perspective because I have been groomed to be an “innovator”. This is an achievement I am particular proud of. In summary, my 4-weeks intensive course outline included- Strategy Project; Project Management; Personal Branding; Introduction to Design Thinking; Hackathon and Product Development, Match Day and Job Resumption preparation. In the course of the entire month I turned in a total of 19 assignments, 2 presentations and 3 blog posts honourably.

Interestingly, as little as it might seem I learnt a new word “reiterate” which is a synonym for repeat. This was used by our facilitators and some guest speakers as a way of ensuring certain concepts and ideas stuck to our minds.

One memorable experience was the two-day hackathon, which was an opportunity to apply all the knowledge acquired. It started off with a brainstorming session for ideas on problem areas around the COVID 19 pandemic. The design thinking approach was applied which enabled us to walk in the shoes of potential customers and understand the real problems they face. Below is a link to my blog post about the Hackathon:

https://kemiaudrey.wixsite.com/myportfolio/post/health-hero-bringing-healthcare-to-you-in-the-comfort-of-your-home

The IFA training was an overall rejuvenating experience for me which had an effect on every aspect of my life (professionally and personally).

We had an array of Guest Speakers with great minds. Each one of them took out time to share knowledge and insightful tips. Amongst all the speakers that were in attendance, I was particularly moved by the session with Mr Gbenga Oyebode of Aluko & Oyebode Law firm. He took us through his success journey and shared both the good, the bad and the ugly experiences along the way. In addition, he made us understand the importance of building a strong legacy, making an impact and giving back to the society above all.

Writing this article brings immense joy and fulfilment to my heart and I would advise any one reading this to take advantage of subsequent IFA training opportunities as it is being presented in the future!

Health Hero - Bringing healthcare to the comfort of your home

It has been an amazing couple of weeks and here is why. I have been a part of the IFA Startup Readiness Training. Innovate For Africa is a program aimed at strengthening the innovative ecosystem in Nigeria by training its fellows on in-demand skills and entrepreneurship. It involved an array of case study learning some of which includes; strategy development, brand building, project management and design thinking

This project is a product of a two days hackathon. In case you are wondering what a hackathon is, it is an event where people sharing similar interests gather under a common roof to build something from scratch or solve a specific business problem. Our hackathon was virtual and it was an opportunity to apply all the knowledge acquired. It started off with a brainstorming session for ideas on problem areas around the COVID 19 pandemic. The design thinking approach was applied which enabled us to walk in the shoes of potential customers and understand the real problems they face.

THE PROCESS

EMPATHIZE

Working in a team of three, we structured our primary market research into conducting interviews and gathering qualitative and quantitative data from our potential customers (mainly people from our close networks). As part of the design thinking process, it was important to ask open ended questions and encourage our interviewee to give as much detail as possible so as to identify and understand their pain points.

With the documented data from the market research it was time for the next phase...

DEFINE

This involved analyzing the raw data obtained and transforming it into useful information. Information that highlighted the customer persona, challenges and pain points helped in clearly defining our problem statement. We established that our target audience would be the the working independent population in Lagos between the age 25 - 60 who have the disposable income to afford basic healthcare.

Presence of a problem brings about the need for a solution...

IDEATE

At this stage there was an intense brainstorming session where all ideas were welcomed in order not to limit the scope of our proposed solution.

We thought about alternative ways to solve normalized problems and eventually developed our value proposition.

Now that we have a solution what is next ?

PROTOTYPE

We built a prototype showing what our product would look like and how it works. The full prototype can be viewed using this link the link below.

THE PRODUCT

Health Hero is a telehealth platform that enables patients to receive consultation services from doctors as well as access to pharmacies and test lab locations from their homes. Health Hero provides convenience to both patients and doctors by linking them up on an online platform. Our solution was different from others because it combined consultation services, medication procurement as well as laboratory testing.

HOW DOES IT WORK ?

Source: Presentation Slides

This illustrates our consultation process which begins with the patient getting registered on our platform.

We pitched our ideas to our facilitators and guest judges Wura Mosuro and Emily Guo from Harvard Business School and MIT SLOAN . This was a success as we received positive feedback and noted areas for further improvement.

In conclusion, my takeaways from this experience were learning the importance of applying design thinking when developing a product, how to give an effective pitch and how to manage project as well as people to achieve stellar results.

VESICASH, THE FUTURE OF SAFER TRANSACTIONS

A CASE STUDY ANALYSIS

Introduction

As part of a select group of fellows in the Innovate for Africa Program, I have been working to develop my strategic thinking skills and understanding of how start-ups operate and how to help them grow and scale.

This study is centered on VESICASH. Vesicash provides payment security for businesses and individuals across Africa. It involves a financial arrangement that uses a third-party(Vesicash) to hold and regulate any payments between the two parties of interest. It can help improve the security of online payments and transactions, and it can help to reduce the risk of fraud and scams when people buy and sell goods or services online.

Below is a STEEPLE analysis explaining the external environment in which Vesicash operates:

Vesicash can increase its market share through an increase of its clients base in Nigeria. It can also enhance its visibility through marketing and advertising campaigns. According to the Guardian business news, Nigeria loses about N200 billion yearly to cyber-crime menace, this creates an urgent need to reduce the risk of fraud associated with online payments and transactions.

When creating an effective strategy there are 2 key components to highlight:

• Strategic Positioning

• Objective Key Results (OKR’s)

The Strategy:

Being less homogeneous than banks, fin-tech companies can create a more diverse, secure, and stable financial services landscape. The strategy is to achieve economies of scale. A strategy to fully penetrate the Nigerian financial market by increasing Vesicash’s client base to include real estate companies such as Mixta Africa and Adron homes. Also to incorporate the use of a mobile app to enhance ease of communication and improve convenience for users.

Planning and measuring the strategy

Vision: To ensure that online payment is improved to the optimal best

Mission: To eliminate all payment fraud and enable everyone, everywhere transact with total confidence

Objective: To increase Vesicash’s network, market share and profitability