When I say design thinking can save time, money, and frustration, I don’t speak from theory – I speak from lived experience.
I didn’t stumble into education by accident. I always planned to be an educator. That vision led me to start I-Train Africa
But what I wasn’t prepared for was the rude shock of launching that vision with no skilled hands to help build it. I hired early. I believed in potential. But potential without skill left me managing operations, building content, solving tech glitches, and training staff – all at once.
That’s when the dream met the dirt – and the dirt showed me the practical approach to design thinking in the real world.
I had to start building the curriculum in completely non-ideal conditions. There was no polished e-learning platform, no instructional design team, no launch strategy. Just a clear mission, a chaotic to-do list, and the deep conviction that Africa’s youth deserved better than what the system was giving them.
How Kunle Became My First Prototype
In desperation (and strategy), I called on my cousin Kunle – a first-class graduate with discipline, drive, and intelligence. I asked him to move in with me.
Why? Because I needed:
✔ Relief from daily tasks
✔ A fast learner
✔ A real person to test with
✔ A way to document what worked and what didn’t
I handed Kunle the earliest version of the Digital Skills module. We didn’t even call it that then – it was just content I had structured from my years of employing staff.
And surprisingly, it worked.
Kunle flew through it. He gave feedback. He identified what was unclear. I improved it.
That was iteration #1.
Then Came Aisha – and the Real Insight
Two months in, I brought in Aisha – a secondary school dropout with drive, but no confidence. Unlike Kunle, she needed mindset reorientation first. She didn’t believe she belonged in a “tech” space.
That single insight changed everything.
With Aisha, mindset became the first module. Because without belief, no skill sticks.
That’s when I fully grasped what I’d experienced at UNLEASH Global Innovation Lab in Singapore (2018):
“Fail fast. Fail forward. Learn from the user, not just the idea.”
I wasn’t just teaching anymore—I was prototyping a movement.
What This Teaches Us About Real-World Design Thinking
Design thinking isn’t always clean.
Sometimes, it starts with your cousin on your couch.
Sometimes, your first user doesn’t know where the “login” button is.
Sometimes, your curriculum is built while you’re firefighting operations.
But that is where innovation is born.
🔧 Prototype = a small, testable version of your idea.
🧠 Insight = what real users show you that you didn’t predict.
What I learned:
Design thinking is not about perfection; it’s about learning fast.
You don’t need a lab – you need humility, empathy, and responsiveness.
The “non-ideal” path often gives you the most powerful blueprint.
📊 Harvard Business Review notes that early prototyping reduces failure risk by up to 50% (2020).
📊 According to IDEO, real testing with real users increases product success rate by 2X.
So before you design your next solution, I challenge you:
Have you tested it with your version of Kunle?
Have you redesigned it for someone like Aisha?
Are you brave enough to start – even if the conditions aren’t ideal?
The Skilled For Work Academy curriculum was born in real life, not in slides.
And today, it has reached learners across 20+ African countries.
That’s the power of human-centered design. That’s the power of just starting.
Dr. Aderinsola Adio-Adepoju
Sustainability | Innovation & Entrepreneurship | Global Opportunities | Employability Skills