impact week - program overview

Program overviewMichael Hübl

Our mission

We foster innovation, entrepreneurship and intercultural exchange through Design Thinking.

We...

● initiated by entrepreneurs and innovation

consultants in Germany in 2015.

● over 40 consultants went abroad to

organize Impact Weeks.

● this group wants to scale Impact Week in

2017.

Team 2015

Team 2016

… to foster innovation, entrepreneurship …

● teaching people how to create business

models out of existing problems.

● giving people the tools and knowledge to

found own businesses that help them to

make their own living.

● We believe this (and education in general)

is the most sustainable way of relief work.

… and intercultural exchange …

● bring people from different countries and

cultures together.

● create friendships that lasts a lifetime.

● We see ourselves as “servants” and equal

to the people we teach. We might have the

methodology knowledge but the solutions

lies in the people itself.

… through Design Thinking.

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.”

1. Train professors as Design Thinking coaches.

2. Organize Impact Week and teach students

Impact Week took place twice in Kenya and was a huge success

“Impact Week is the best thing I’ve ever experienced since I am at this university”

“Way more effective than anything I’ve been through”

● 220 students participated

● 39 business models developed

● 15 professors trained as DT coach

● 2 companies “founded”

● Countless friendships

● Open minds and knowledge sharing

● New business opportunities

Watch the movie from Kenya 2015:

https://youtu.be/FK-l4snc2J0



How it works

Each Impact Week has 4 phases to ensure success and sustainability

Train the trainer(2 days)

Impact Week(4 days)

Facilitate the winners

Impact Week Prototype(s) by

local team

Find University and Incubator

Set up and prepare

1 2

Incubation

Mentorship

Ensure long term sustainability

3 4

Conduct Impact Week

FundingEvent Preparation

Build coaches team

Fundraising

Together at project country

Lead: Coaches team Lead: Local team Lead: Local team

Ongoing coaching until Impact Weeks can be independently organized by local teams

Phase 1: Set up and prepare

Find partner university and incubator.

● University: the place where the actual Impact

Week takes place and where the local organiser

team is located.

● Incubator: the place where the winning teams will

be hosted afterwards so they get a chance to

really implement their ideas and found a

business.

● Both partners have to be really committed to

Impact Week as they are responsible for the long

term success.


Teambuilding:

Two teams are needed.

1. The “local team” at the university where the

Impact Week takes place.

2. The “coaches team” from the country of the

organizers. This team is responsible to lead the

Train the Trainer and the Impact Week. Their

responsibility is to teach the local team to

organize Impact Week by themselves.


Prepare Impact Week:

● local teams has to advertise the event, manage

participants, organize speakers who act as role

models and set up the locations.

● coaches team has to create the overall program

and the content of the workshops.

● Teambuilding: Being in a foreign country and

living under local circumstances with mostly

strangers is a huge challenge - only a great team

will succeed.


Each Impact Week costs ~ €20.000 (given 12 people in the coaches team).

€5.000 for the main event (catering, location, materials)€600 p.p. for food and accommodation€600 p.p. for travel (flights and local transport)

€20.000 / 12 = €1666 costs per person. (This is less than 1 day of personal coaching..)

Depending on the context it can make sense to add also prize money ($5000 in Kenya)

BILD SPONSOREN

Each Impact Week has 4 phases to ensure success and sustainability

Train the trainer(2 days)

Impact Week(4 days)

Find University and Incubator

Set up and prepare

1 2

Conduct Impact Week

Event Preparation

Build coaches team

Fundraising

Together at project country

Lead: Coaches team

Facilitate the winners

Impact Week Prototype(s) by

local team

Incubation

Mentorship

Ensure long term sustainability

3 4

Funding

Lead: Local team Lead: Local team

Ongoing coaching until Impact Weeks can be independently organized by local teams

Phase 2: Conduct Impact Week

Train the Trainer

● In two days local professors are trained as

Design Thinking coaches.

● Goal: gain enough knowledge so they can act as

a Junior Coach during the Impact Week itself to

make their first coaching experiences.

● In the future they should be able to act as Senior

Coaches in their own Impact Weeks so it is

essential to teach them well.


Impact Week

● four day workshop

● students work on problems and create new

business models in three phases

● At the end they pitch their ideas in front of a jury

at the Impact Awards.

● Tracks: Agriculture, Cosmetics, Education,

Finance, Healthcare, Mobility and Security. Program Impact Week 2016


Impact Week - Teams

● The participating students build teams in their

track (3-7 people).

● Each team has one senior coach (from the

coaches team) and one Junior Coach (from local

team).

● In 2016 100 students participated and formed 20

teams.


Impact Week - Day 1: Understand

● understanding the underlying principles of Design

Thinking.

● learn that it is important for a successful business

to understand its users and their problems.


Impact Week - Day 2: Observe and ideate

● Talk to potential customers and building first

prototypes.

● After identifying problems the teams build first

prototypes of their potential solutions and test

them again in interviews.

A day in Nairobi city


Impact Week - Day 3: Create and test

● iterate through prototypes to find the best

solutions for a problem.

● In the afternoon it is all about business models.

What is my target group, what are my

stakeholders, how do I earn money?

Prototyping


Impact Week - Day 4: Awards

● Impact Awards take place. A huge celebration

where students, professors, investors and

families can attend.

● 3 minutes to pitch their ideas in front of a jury. No

powerpoint is allowed, only speech and offline

material (some people make role games or show

posters).

● At the end the jury announces the five winning

teams that receive prize money and get access to

the incubator

Winning team of 2016


Impact Week - Speakers

● Each day a guest speaker is invited.

● Act as role models - they show that it is possible

to found own even under the hard circumstances

in the project country.

● 20 mins plus Q&A.

Program Impact Week 2016

Phase 3: Facilitate the winning teams

Incubation

It is very important to not let the teams alone after winning. Therefore it is essential to have a cooperation with a local incubator (which are located in most big cities even in developing countries).

The winning teams should receive office space and mentoring in the incubator. To ensure only the “right” teams get a place in the incubator at least one employee should sit in the jury.

Mentorship

The members of the coaches team should be available as mentors for the winners. This can happen via WhatsApp, E-Mail or Skype calls.

Funding

Getting money is one of the biggest problems for the winning teams. That is why we give at least $5000 to the winning teams so they can at least organize transport to get to the incubator and other pitch / investment events or buy some first basic materials to build a prototype.

Phase 4: Ensure long term sustainability through independency

Impact Week Prototypes

● create sustainability through independency.

● local professors should be able to organize own

Impact Weeks without coaches in the future.

● Do a “Mini” Impact Week to learn and get

coaching by the coaches team

Program Impact Week 2016

Success stories

Counterfighters - Ensures you get authentic drugs

● Counterfeit drugs are a huge problem in

kenya

● Counterfighter solve it through SMS

validation

● Currently beta test at one hospital

→ http://counterfighters.org/

http://counterfighters.org/

Taka Smart - Reduce, recycle, reward

● Redeem plastic for SMS credits

→ http://takasmart.co/

http://takasmart.co/

Other business models

1. Team Savac with their emergency evacuation system

2. Team Afrifast with a real-time traffic information system

3. Team Isafi with technology for safe drinking water

4. Team Gold Trash with their idea of using restaurant wastes

5. Team Happy Farm with their farm in a box

Airtime and press coverage

Impact Week was covered by 3 TV news and numerous newspapers.

Outlook 2017

Major learnings for 2017

● Intercultural exchange is part of our core mission: In these times it is more than ever important

that we foster intercultural exchange.

● More participants at Train the Trainer, less at Impact Week: Sustainability comes through

educating others - therefore the Train The Trainer is the most important part of an Impact Week.

● Less members in coaches team: Smaller teams are easier to handle and can have similar impact.

● We need a university and an incubator as partner: We need to make sure that winning teams are

coached even if we leave the country. This is only possible if they get access to the local

entrepreneurship community.

● Cover all costs: Make sure that coaches don’t have to pay anything.

● Design Thinking is our key value: DT is the “buzzword” that brings us sponsors, coaches and

helps participants to identify - this is why we should focus on it from a marketing perspective.

Build it → Nail it → Scale it

● Support ANU to make their own Impact Week

● Organize Impact Weeks in 3 more countries

● Close financial gap

Kontakt

Michael HüblCo-founder Impact Week

[email protected]+4915125206666

www.impactweek.net

impact week - program overview

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