ALUMNI IMPACT

Simphiwe Petros’ Journey into Human-Centered Innovation

Ameera Miller, a digital marketer and content creator, is an alumna of the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika at UCT. Having completed the in October 2022, Ameera’s career journey has been greatly influenced by the skills and mindset she developed during the programme. Ameera shares how design thinking has been pivotal in shaping her personal and professional journey.

We caught up with Saarrah Waggie, alumna of the Foundation Programme at the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika at UCT, to explore how design thinking has been instrumental in shaping her personal and professional growth.

The Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika at UCT sat down with Design Thinking coach, Sinalo Bambeni, to talk about how design thinking has shaped her career (and her life).

Tiego Monareng, a coach at the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika, shares his experience with the transformative power of design thinking in startups and multilateral organisations and how it has even influenced his personal relationships.

Zulfah Albertyn-Blanchard, a former PhD student at UCT, discovered design thinking during her paediatrics and public health studies and later became a coach in the field. She believes design thinking transformed her problem-solving approach and emphasised the importance of understanding individual needs.

Succeeding as an entrepreneur in South Africa is trickier now than ever before. Slow economic growth, high inflation and loadshedding create a cocktail of challenges that are especially formidable for small and medium businesses. But Reitumetse Kholumo, award-winning start-up owner and d-school Afrika alumna has found a way to circumvent the obstacles while staying true to the core values driving her, inspiring other entrepreneurs to stay the course during these troubled times.

Jessica Ilunga is a d-school Afrika alumna and a storyteller-urbanist committed to unlocking new narratives in and about our cities.

Serial tech entrepreneurs Matthew Westaway and Lethabo Motsoaledi used a customer-centric approach to build their latest venture Voyc—a speech analytics service—into an award-winning company that currently monitors a million customer interactions a month in the UK and SA and helps clients cut customer complaints and build value.