Design Thinking offers better ways of problem solving for businesses – Dr. Adomdza

Associate Professor of Design Thinking and Entrepreneurship at the Business Administration Department of Ashesi University, Dr. Gordon Adomdza, has urged African businesses in particular to adopt more innovative ways of finding solutions to current challenges facing the continent.

Speaking to citibusinessnews.com during the launch of the 5th anniversary of Design Thinking Ghana Hub (DTGH) as a provider of innovative and strategic support for businesses, Dr. Adomdza, said DTGH offers a broader systems approach where problems are evaluated from multiple angles and the best solutions found for businesses.

Design thinking refers to the cognitive, strategic and practical processes by which design concepts such as proposals for new products, buildings, machines among others are developed.

Design thinking is also associated with prescriptions for the innovation of products and services within business and social contexts.

He Dr. Adomdza said Design Thinking Ghana, in a bid to become the compass for problem solvers in the creation of new products and business models in Africa, has engaged and helped entrepreneurs, startups, SMEs and corporations from different industries through training and consulting support.

He said in commemoration of its 5th year in Ghana, DTGH welcomes businesses willing to take advantage of its design perspective to problem-solving in developing new ideas and products.

According to him, DTGH, which is evolving and gradually changing to business development has offered exceptional growth and development to businesses it has worked with, to gain competitive advantage over their competitors.

He said the company works together with its clients to assess their business problem space and customer needs, while applying the Design Thinking process to create sustainable solutions for them.

“As a problem-solving training consultant, DTGH has consulted for organizations such as Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC), where each year, participants of the program are trained to apply the design approach in the development of their agribusiness solutions.”

“We have also worked with MTN Ghana — training customer care supervisors and high performing agents, defining their current perspective of customer service and constructing a path of innovation from that perspective considering the current socio-cultural evolution.”

“We have also engaged teams from different departments of Stanbic Bank Ghana to re-strategise and help them develop new products and services.”

Dr. Adomdza said DTGH has also engaged BlIMA Ghana, SE Ghana, GIZ, Reach for Change, Oxfam, Innohub and other organizations in their business training, product positioning and customer development.

Aside consulting and training, DTGH hosts the annual Design Thinking Ghana Conference (DTGC), and this year’s conference slated for June is expected to bring together experts and leaders from different industries who are using the design thinking approach to grow their organisations.

About the conference

The goal of the conference is to bring attention to Design Thinking as a strategic problem solving and innovative approach, provide a platform for presentations on the application of the methodology in industry, and point the audience to ways in which they can be more successful when they apply the insights and knowledge from the conference.

Past conferences have discussed themes such as; winning through Today’s Challenges with Design Thinking, doing Design Thinking for Competitive Advantage and Social Good, and Financial inclusion and 5G.

About DTGH

Design Thinking Ghana Hub (DTGH) is made up of a group of professionals that take a design approach to problem-solving in developing new ideas, products and businesses.

They provide training, consulting and Innovation Project Management to solve problems for businesses through the design thinking approach.

Under the leadership of Dr. Gordon Adomdza of Ashesi University, Design Thinking Ghana has been sharing the Design Thinking approach with students, businesses and industry practitioners in Ghana since 2015.