What's Design Anyway?

The startup world has become completely obsessed with being on the look-out for the next big sexy tech unicorn. Is there any space for creative entrepreneurs in this world, and do they have any real (investable) value? In this episode I sit down with Chidi Afulezi, who is a battle tested product sensei, creative entrepreneur and educator, to explore why creative entrepreneurs matter more than you think. And why we need to design better systems to support them.

Join us on a storytelling journey that will reframe the ‘starving artist’ as of the most powerful forces and designers of our culture. Be intrigued as we unearth creative unicorns you didn’t realise existed. And be inspired by the sheer volume of value-laden opportunities that we have not begun to tap into on the African continent. Opportunities that are set to drive the next wave of talented, billionaire entrepreneurs.

This conversation was such a gift, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed having it.

More about Chidi Afulezi:

Chidi Afulezi is a battle tested product sensei, consultant, coach, creative entrepreneur and educator. Chidi has a broad background in the entertainment, media and tech industries; forging a kickass career making products, making product people, facilitating communications, and building creative businesses. Chidi is the managing principal for redKola Digital (product consultancy); managing partner at theZVG (comms products agency); founder of aKoma Media, Rouse Media, and The Core Venture Studio. He is the head faculty for product, innovation and entrepreneurship at African Leadership University School of Business. He is Product Head Coach, at The Center for a Re-Imagined Africa, and product sensei at the General Assembly, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and Maven.

You can follow Chidi here:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cafulezi

Twitter handle: @cafulezi

Sign up for his ‘Design Problems Worth Solving’ product course here

Read more written by him here

Follow us or subscribe to the podcast on your favourite platform.

We always love to know your thoughts, so please reach out and connect:

@whatsdesignanyway

@daniella_sachs

You can find out more about your host Daniella Sachs here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniella-sachs/

https://www.impactful.studio/

Thank you to Kabbalistic Village for the music!

Does design need to be disrupted by decolonisation? This is an incredibly deep and complex issue that I was privileged to explore with Caryn Thandi Petersen, an incredible storyteller, creative, writer, artist and editorial lead for The Room and ALX.

In this deeply personal conversation, we explore the power design has to corrupt, divide and exclude. Yet equally the force it has to connect, inspire, and create impact. We delve into the topic of decolonisation and what it brings to the table in terms of disrupting design, and our notions of who or what a designer is.

We speak about the role that language, storytelling, and our histories play in design. Why design is a process that can never be complete, especially when it relates to unlocking innovation. And how important it is to acknowledge this on our personal journeys of seeking and often struggling to embrace all the multiple facets of who we see ourselves to be.

This conversation was such a gift, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed having it.

More about Caryn Thandi Petersen:

Caryn Thandi is the Senior Editor at African Leadership International, where she leads Editorial content for The Room and ALX. She is an incredible storyteller, creative, features writer, and performer with a background in the arts. In her spare time she is completing her PhD at the University of Warwick in Sociology (Women and Gender). Her research explores the meanings and implications of contemporary expressions of decolonial activism in South Africa and the UK. She is interested in intersectional movements seeking to address colonial legacies and redress the politics of knowledge production. As a member of the Peace and Reconciliation Network of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, Caryn Thandi also seeks to contribute to broader discussions on institutional reform through transformative justice initiatives.

You can follow Thandi here:

• Instagram handle: @carynthandi
• Twitter handle: @ThandiCaryn

Links to interesting things mentioned in the podcast:

• Fred Swaniker’s TED Talk
• Design Indaba

Follow us or subscribe to the podcast on your favourite platform.

We always love to know your thoughts, so please reach out and connect:

• @whatsdesignanyway
• @daniella_sachs

You can find out more about your host Daniella Sachs here:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniella-sachs/
• https://www.impactful.studio/

Thank you to Kabbalistic Village for the music!

I’m excited to bring you Lana Jelenjev who is an incredible community alchemist, learning design strategist, and author of a breath-taking book on how to design communities for change, amongst other things. In this incredibly rich and juicy conversation we explore how and why we need to design safer brave spaces in our organisations.

Lana delves into the question of what engagement and community means today in a content driven world. Why we need to flip the narrative to design businesses as communities. And the critical role design plays, in enabling people to show up, share, and engage on multiple levels. We speak about firekeepers and weavers, and a whole lot in between, as we explore the multiple touch points that we and our organisations can connect to, in our search for purpose and meaning.

This conversation was such a gift, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed having it.

More about Lana Jelenjev:

Lanais a community alchemist and learning design strategist with an extensive background in training and education. She is the author of “Community Builder: Designing Communities for Change” and “The 90 Day Action Planner”, a Kickstarter backed planner for creative entrepreneurs. Lana is the co-founder of Community Rituals, a consulting agency with a mission to guide community leaders in designing powerful rituals for their communities. She is also the chairperson for Neurodiversity Foundation and co-founder of Neurodiversity Education Academy, a training and educational platform aimed at bridging the gaps for all neurotypes to thrive.

You can find out more about Lana here:

• lanajelenjev.com
• communityrituals.com
• neurodiversityeducationacademy.org

You can sign up for her events (including the one on 17 Nov 22) here:

https://www.lanajelenjev.com/events-booking

Follow us or subscribe to the podcast on your favourite platform.

We always love to know your thoughts, so please reach out and connect:

• @whatsdesignanyway
• @daniella_sachs

You can find out more about your host Daniella Sachs here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniella-sachs/

https://www.impactful.studio/

Thank you to Kabbalistic Village for the music!

What has design got to do with women, conservation, and communities? In this episode I’m excited to bring you Rosebell Abwonji who is a champion for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the conservation space. In this rich and thought provoking conversation we explore the embedded tension that lies between inclusion and diversity, especially when it comes to women in the complex context of conservation in Africa.

Rosebell speaks about how and why we need to design more inclusive environments that are able to uphold and embrace the diversity needed to make conservation successful. She speaks to how good design can only be created when we take time to appreciate the nuances of the specific environment and cultural systems we are in. How important it is in the search for solutions for us to keep an open-mind, and not dismiss ideas or beliefs that counter our own. She also profoundly shares why we need to stop obsessing about creating more seats at the table, and instead focus on how to create new tables, new chairs and new rooms.

This conversation was such a gift, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed having it.

More about Rosebell Abwonji:

Rosebell is an incredible advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in conservation in Africa. Driven by her passion for serving others, she has become a champion for building learning environments that support growth and diversity in Kenya. She has taken the lessons learned from working in numerous roles from marketing, administration, operations and human resources within the private and not-for-profit sectors, into conservation. Where she now works, leading human resources and administration in a community based conservation organisation. In her spare time, Rosebell likes to read, cook and watch the breath-taking fiery sunsets over the Maasai Mara, that we all dream about.

You can find out more about Rosebell and the topic of women in conservation here:

• Breaking Barriers for Women in the Mara (pg 19)
• Women Rangers in Africa, Women Protecting Wildlife
• Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies
• The Role of Women Leaders in Conservation

Reach out and Connect with us:

Subscribe to the podcast on your favourite platform.

You can follow us on social media @whatsdesignanyway, @daniella_sachs

You can find out more about Daniella Sachs at https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniella-sachs/and https://www.impactful.studio/

Thank you to Kabbalistic Villagefor the music!

In this episode we are going to be looking at design from a whole other perspective.  We are going to zoom out to talk about how we can possibly design for new systems when we are so embedded in old ones. I’m excited to bring you a conversation with Tero Hokkanen about the challenges of designing for the circular economy. Which is a pretty hot topic right now. 

Tero is a co-founder of Systems Change Finland, an association focused on the question of how we as individuals, organisations and society can collaboratively create better systems. Currently he is working in Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Finland as a project specialist in an EU-funded Green Transition project called CEGO – Circular Economy Goes East and West. This project has been designed to support and build the capability of one of the most overlooked business segments in the push to transform to a circular economy.   

You are definitely going to want a pen and paper handy because Tero shares with us many of the important lessons he has learned along the way. He shares why the first small steps are so important in the journey to transform mindsets. He explains why we need to focus on adopting a learning attitude right now as we essentially experiment our way forwards. And why we need to think about ecosystems as a critical component of designing for large scale systems change in the midst of so much uncertainty.   

This is an incredibly rich conversation that I hope you enjoy as much as we did having it.   

To hear more conversations like these subscribe to this podcast!
 

More about Tero Hokkanen: 

Tero obtained his master's degree from the University of Helsinki, where he studied environmental economics. He started his career focusing on waste-related issues both in the public and private sectors. Quite soon he started to discover that incremental problem-solving is not enough to fix the growing environmental problems we are being faced with. If we want to be truly sustainable, we need to adopt a more holistic and systemic approach. Shortly after he was part of co-founding Systems Change Finland, an association that is focused on the question of how we as individuals, organizations and as a society can better deal with complexity and how to create and shift to better systems. Currently he is working in Laurea University of Applied Sciences as a project specialist in an EU-funded project called CEGO – Circular Economy Goes East and West. The project is aiming to strengthen circular economy capabilities in SMEs, and also supporting ecosystems and enhancing systemic change toward sustainable economic activity in the Uusimaa region in Finland.   

Reach out and Connect: 

You can follow us on social media @whatsdesignanyway, @daniella_sachs 

Here can find out more about Daniella Sachs and the Impactful Design Studio. 

Thank you to Kabbalistic Village for the music!

After qualifying as a designer in 2012 with a BTech in Multimedia Daniela spent a short time working for a corporate company but soon realised that she needed time for creative projects and creative people!

She began to freelance, helping entrepreneurs with their business branding while pursuing her own start-ups in food and art. It was here that she began to realise that the creative process was more than a visual output but created opportunities to develop business strategies and goals.

Her design journey transformed yet again, when she moved in 2020 to first Hoedspruit and then to Northern KZN. In her quest to find and build new communities for herself, Daniela discovered she had a natural gift for bringing diverse people together through interesting creative and game-orientated experiences.

This discovery sparked her to become an accredited coach. She now specialises in hosting creative and play workshops and experiences that inspire and empower people to connect with themselves and others through the creative and play process.

You can find out more about and connect with Daniela here:

· https://www.designbydaniela.co.za/

· https://www.coachingwithdaniela.co.za/

· @danielava_art

· @coaching.with.daniela

Other links to interesting things mentioned in the podcast:

· Embracing imperfection 

· Black Mirror

· Spirited Away 

Reach out and Connect with us:

Subscribe to the podcast on your favourite platform.

You can follow us on social media @whatsdesignanyway, @daniella_sachs

You can find out more about Daniella Sachs at https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniella-sachs/ and https://www.impactful.studio/

"Music by Kabbalistic Village" - kabbalisticvillage.com/

Danang is a passionate strategy professional who describes himself as a corporate Swiss Army Knife. After spending the last decade in the printing industry working in strategy and business development across the EMEA region, he has recently found a new calling managing strategic transformation programs in the fashion industry. You can connect with him on linked https://www.linkedin.com/in/dvoestermans/

Subscribe to the podcast if it tickles your fancy.

Follow us on social media @whatsdesignanyway, @daniella_sachs

You can find out more about me, your host, Daniella Sachs at https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniella-sachs/ and https://www.impactful.studio/

"Music by Kabbalistic Village" - kabbalisticvillage.com/

Reach out and connect, I would love to know your thoughts and musings on design.

Nii Kommey Botchway is a design educator based in Gqeberha, South Africa, where he coordinates the Graphic Design Program at the Nelson Mandela University. He has served as a jury member for the Danish organization INDEX: Design To Improve Life’s UNICEF co-sponsored international student Design for Education challenge (2010), and was part of the visiting faculty at the Yonsei Index Design To Improve Live Summer School held at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea (2011). His interest lies in building an appreciation and knowledge of the (Afrikan) design consciousness found within various cultures on the continent and in the Afrikan diaspora. Web: theafrikandesignschool.com

Subscribe to the podcast if it tickles your fancy.

You can follow us on social media @whatsdesignanyway, @daniella_sachs

You can find out more about me, your host, Daniella Sachs at https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniella-sachs/ and https://www.impactful.studio/

"Music by Kabbalistic Village" - kabbalisticvillage.com/

Reach out and connect, I would love to know your thoughts and musings on design.

You can find out more about me, your host, Daniella Sachs at https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniella-sachs/ and https://www.impactful.studio/

"Music by Kabbalistic Village" - kabbalisticvillage.com/

Reach out and connect, and I hope you enjoy this journey of discvery as much as I am.