The biggest lie in education is that once you have content, you’re ready to teach.
Many educators believe that, but that is because many have not encountered the design thinking methodology.
When I began building the Skilled For Work Academy, I didn’t want just another digital course. I wanted transformation. I wanted a program that could take a first-class graduate like Kunle and a secondary school dropout like Aisha, and help both succeed.
But here’s what most curriculum designers miss: The learner is not a passive recipient of knowledge. The learner is your user. And like any user, their experience determines your impact.
That’s why I used design thinking, not theory or trends, to build a curriculum from the ground up.
Step 1: Empathise with Learners’ Realities
We didn’t start with content.
We started with conversations.
Shortly before the continental-wide launch of SFW, I interviewed over 441 youth from different backgrounds:
Unemployed graduates
Stay-at-home mums
People with zero tech exposure
Entry-level professionals who were stuck
What I found shocked me.
They weren’t just looking for jobs or skills.
They were looking for identity, confidence, and direction.
So our first module became “THE CLARITY MODULE’ with a focus on personality discovery and mindset reorientation, not Microsoft Word or Excel. That was the first design thinking win.
Step 2: Define the Right Problems
The real problem wasn’t only “lack of skills.
It was:
Lack of belief
Mismatch between what schools taught and what employers needed
No structure for learning soft, life, tech and digital skills together
We defined our design challenge like this:
“How might we build a workplace-ready curriculum that works across education levels, builds confidence, and delivers real outcomes?”
Step 3: Ideate + Prototype the Learning Journey
We brainstormed a learning journey that didn’t assume prior knowledge. Then we prototyped:
We tested the digital skills module with Kunle
We restructured for mindset-first with Aisha
We ran mini-pilots and changed things based on feedback
Each time, we asked:
Is this too hard? Too fast? Too theoretical? Too boring?
Step 4: Build with the User, Not Just for Them
Every update we made came from user feedback:
We added WhatsApp support after users got stuck on the LMS
We added video walkthroughs because some people preferred seeing, not reading
We added tech mentor calls for people who needed extra handholding
This wasn’t “scaling.” This was designed for adoption.
And the Result?
A curriculum that:
It is now used by learners in over 20 African countries
Has over 75% course completion rate (well above industry average)
It is backed by a real internship pipeline
Has testimonials from professionals, dropouts, and returnees alike
But none of this came from copying other programs.
It came from treating curriculum like a product, and learners like users.
That’s design thinking in education. That’s why it works.
So, if you’re building a program, a workshop, or even a social enterprise for young people in Africa…
Are you designing with them in mind? Or just teaching what you think they need?
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