Dr. Suman Lodh, Associate Professor in Finance at Kingston Business School, explored how entrepreneurs can identify opportunities, generate ideas, and solve real-world problems using the Double Diamond Thinking Model, as part of the TransformHER webinar series.
“Risk is defined in two words. One is danger and the second one is opportunity.”
The session started with a discussion around opportunity and risk. Suman explained that uncertainty is not only a threat but also a source of opportunity. Entrepreneurs who learn to recognise opportunities within challenges are best positioned to innovate.
“Entrepreneurship should not wait for a reaction. They need to be proactive. They need to always be seeking opportunities.”
Steps in the innovation funnel:
- Ideate
- Define
- Design
- Develop
- Commercialise
“You do not need to reinvent the wheel all the time.”
Many successful businesses grow by improving existing ideas rather than creating completely new inventions. This webinar highlighted how to spot an opportunity through careful observation and identifying customer frustrations, market gaps, changing behaviours, and emerging trends.
How to use the Double Diamond model:
- Discover – Explore and understand the problem.
- Define – Narrow down the key challenge based on the insights from the discovery stage.
- Develop – Explore answers to the problem through inspiration and collaboration.
- Deliver – Testing out solutions on a small scale and improving them.
“Entrepreneurship is all about helping yourself by helping others”
The TransformHER webinar series is designed under the Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (SWEEP), implemented in collaboration with the British Council, and hosted by the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme under Universities South Africa (USAf).
Further Reading: https://review.firstround.com/how-design-thinking-transformed-airbnb-from-failing-startup-to-billion-dollar-business/