The problem of financial literacy

The problem of substance abuse in the community

The problem of lack of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMME) in Kwa-Thema

The problem of bullying at primary school

The problem of career guidance and subject selection at high school

1. The problem the team are in love with: The team chose the problem of choosing matric subjects as a Grade 9 in High School. 

2. Discoveries about their users and their experiences of using the problem: The team discovered that: students were confused about their choices, parents insisted on specific choices without discussion, they had no structured approach to deciding what to choose. This was a very painful choice as choosing appeared to reduced options. 

3. Evolution of the usefulness and usability of the solution: The team offered a workshop for grade 9s through their high schools. This was supported by an informative poster with a call to action to contact the team.

4. Adoption of the team's solution: By the end of the course, the team had been authorised by two local high schools to run their workshop. Six months after the course the team had expanded their work into five additional high schools.

The problem of lack of awareness of the benefits of Early Childhood Development (ECD)

1. The problem the team are in love with: The team chose Early Childhood Development to find solutions for.

2. Discoveries about their users and their experiences of using the problem: The team discovered that new mothers were being discouraged by their parents from ECD. Grandparents didn't understand the benefits of ECD believing that ECD negatively impacted the bond between mother and infant. Grandparents have a major influence on the choices of their children.

3. Evolution of the usefulness and usability of the solution: The team created an information poster. The poster's usefulness evolved when the team used the learnings of their own research rather than copy and pasting insights from the internet. The poster's usability improved when it was translated into Zulu.

4. Adoption of the team's solution: The team placed its posters at key points, such as the clinic. Community leaders reported positive reception of the posters

5. Challenges encountered along the way: Initially, the team struggled to agree on what aspect of ECD to tackle. This was solved once they interviewed real users of the problem.

The problem of lack of hobbies and activities in the community

1. The problem the team are in love with: The team chose the problem of a lack of activities (sports and hobbies) in the community for young people .

2. Discoveries about their users and their experiences of using the problem: The team discovered that: a popular chess club had closed down during the pandemic, there was demand for activities, the historic chess club facilitator was willing to be involved but didn't know how to restart after the pandemic.

3. Evolution of the usefulness and usability of the solution: The team started with a workshop for younger participants and expanded their solution to include older participants and activities in schools.

4. Adoption of the team's solution: By the end of the course, the team had run a session at the Family Skills Centre with an external facilitator and 9 participants.

5. Challenges encountered along the way: Venues for activities are hard to find. On the third iteration the team found a venue willing and able to help. Safeguarding of younger participants is a critical requirement.

The problem of youth unemployment

1. The problem the team are in love with: The team chose to tackle youth unemployment.

2. Discoveries about their users and their experiences of using the problem: Local employers had no established way of posting job opportunities. Youth didn't know where to search for local opportunities.

3. Evolution of the usefulness and usability of the solution: The team started a facebook page on which they curated and posted training and employment opportunities. Facebook is popular with target users (unemployed youth) so this helped usefulness and usability.

4. Adoption of the team's solution: By the end of the course, the facebook page had attracted around 50 followers.

5. Challenges encountered along the way: Finding trustworthy opportunities to post to the facebook page is not straight forward. Finding trusted sources is time consuming.

The problem of lack of activities for seniors

1. The problem the team are in love with: The team chose to solve the problem of lack of activities for seniors in the old age people's home.

2. Discoveries about their users and their experiences of using the problem: The team discovered that seniors in the home particularly loved playing card and board games but that they did not have enough available. As they tested their solutions, they discovered that their game appealed to all ages not just seniors.

3. Evolution of the usefulness and usability of the solution: The team's first solutions were complex board games. These solutions were not feasible to implement. When the team pivoted to a card game format, the feasibility and usability of their solution took off.

4. Adoption of the team's solution: By the end of the course, the team had sold a number of their card games, including pre-orders. During the final presentation, an investor committed to fund their idea.

5. Challenges encountered along the way: Key challenges included the lack of courage by the principal in dealing with the problems that they were responsible for, the apathetic attitude of the school's staff, the challenge of getting users to trust the anonymity of the suggestions box and that using the box was worthwhile.