Kafeero Foundation, a social enterprise organization, is holding its first Business Design Week boot-camp between October 15 and 19 in Kampala, at its new home the Mfano Design LAB at Muyenga.
Dubbed ‘Mfano Business Design Week’, the event is focuing on the development of innovative business designs and strategies. Social enterprise organizations like Kafeero Foundation, seek to help companies maximize profits while also maximizing benefits to society and the environment.
Speaking at the official opening of the event on Wednesday, Azizi Kafeero, the Founder of the organization said, the emergence of the digital revolution, is pushing many enterprises to redesign their business models if they are to generate revenues and remain sustainable.
He said “Kafeero Foundation simply exists to enable the establishment of successful and sustainable businesses and the key is nurturing strong foundations that include a carefully thought out process, a distinct design and finally crafting a valuable end product. We introduced ‘Mfano’ for this very purpose to help businesses grow beyond their capabilities, but most importantly be able to redefine the strategies and customer experiences they offer.”
Enterprises eligible for the boot camp must have been operational for at least three years, formally registered with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau and have raised at least UGX 1 billion or more in blended capital during the past three years. They are also expected to be involved in such sectors as manufacturing, real estate, IT, health, education, agriculture and tourism.
During the boot-camp participants will meet a minimum of five investors and funders after almost a week of vigorous training.
He said, “This LAB is a gateway to innovation, as it will be used as a creation and learning centre offering three products including Venture Design, Product & Service design, and Impact Design for mid and large sized businesses. This is an opportunity for businesses targeting at scalability, aiming at designing or redesigning impact-oriented projects and understanding trends to engage with world renowned business designers and inventors.”
He said together with their design partner, Experience Hays, a digital skills training provider based in London, United Kingdom, participants will be guided in building new brands with the ultimate aim of transforming the customer experience, connect businesses to markets or exploit emerging technologies to promote business sustainability.
Amit Patel, the Creative Director of Experience Haus said, “We are looking forward to taking part in the bootcamp, and will be bringing our product development insights and knowledge to Kampala to help the entrepreneurs along their journey in creating sustainable business models.”
Alex Bwogi, the Executive Director of Ujamaa Tribe, the learning arm of Kafeero Foundation said, “We have partnered with the best business designers and inventors any mid or large scale company could ever have. So far we have registered five participating companies that have paid about UGX50 million for the boot camp.
He added that, these companies will use this platform to link up with investors, conduct round table discussions with these investors, acquire finished designed and strategy processes or redesign & design products and services that conform to market demand. This boot camp is already a closed sale but I take this opportunity to call upon more small and large scale companies to watch out and register for the next Mfano Business Design Week boot camp.”
Sustainability has been widely cited as a major problem among Uganda’s SME sector with only 30% of them surviving to celebrate their 3rd birthday.
