Designing Human Systems

Designing Human SystemsDesigning Human SystemsDesigning Human Systems

Designing Human Systems

Designing Human SystemsDesigning Human SystemsDesigning Human Systems
Más

Developing a toolkit for designing services for microbusinesses

Back to example work


Role: Research lead

#Design research, #Behavioural insights, #Strategic design



Background

Despite being the fastest-growing business segment in both emerging and developed markets, micro-businesses are frequently overlooked as an addressable market by many service providers. This oversight stems from the nature of micro-businesses, which tend to intertwine personal and business activities, posing challenges for categorization and understanding through traditional business metrics. As a result, micro-businesses frequently face difficulties accessing essential services, with their financial needs remaining notably underserved.

  

Objective

This project, conducted for a consortium comprising a commercial bank and a network marketing company, aimed to investigate opportunities to address the distinctive needs of both formal and informal microbusinesses.


The objective was to provide the consortium with tools and frameworks to enhance the adoption of their offerings by tailoring them to the specific context, needs, and challenges faced by microbusinesses. Additionally, the project aimed to guide the consortium in developing new solutions specifically tailored for this segment.

Methodology

After initial framing sessions with the two project partners to align their priorities and expectations from the project, we narrowed down on specific human-centred stories and hypothesis clustered under the microbusiness experience. These stories included various experiences, such as being a serial or parallel entrepreneur, mobile money usage, or navigating bureaucratic hurdles.


Subsequently, we designed and conducted ethnographic research in five countries (Kenya, Brazil, Spain, China, and the USA) to delve into the microbusiness experience, motivations, dreams, challenges and barriers – both in the day to day running of their business and in their engagement with service providers. The ultimate goal was to develop a new framework for effectively engaging and serving microbusinesses.

Images from the fieldwork: Nairobi, Barcelona, São Paulo

The research included pre-task activities that participants completed before we met them in the field, laying the groundwork for subsequent interviews. In the field, our activities included observations and shadowing during a typical workday, as well as individual and group deep-dive interviews. 


Additionally, we facilitated interactive exercises designed to move beyond surface-level conversation and extract concrete anecdotes or specific insights rooted in participants' lived experiences. We also conducted cocreation sessions in entrepreneurial hubs, such as the iHub in Nairobi.

Guided activities before and during the fieldwork gave space to participants to share their stories in embodied and visual ways.

We synthesised the insights gathered from the research into opportunity spaces and developed a toolkit for design and innovation teams. This toolkit aimed to guide the ideation of new offerings or the adaptation of existing ones to better suit the needs of microbusinesses.


To facilitate collaboration and idea generation, we brought executive teams from the consortium partners together in a workshop. During this session, we presented the research findings and facilitated cross-partner teams in utilising the toolkit to brainstorm micro-business-centric solutions. Following this workshop, we conducted partner-specific sessions where we collaborated with each partner's design and innovation team to develop solutions tailored specifically to their business context and objectives.

Results:

We identified three opportunities areas:


  • Serving Microbusinesses: Offering pay-as-you-go services that cater to their needs, facilitating the integration of personal and business information, networks, and resources. Additionally, providing accessible information, tools, and resources tailored specifically to microbusiness requirements.
  • Enabling Microbusinesses: Facilitating their path to market by providing on-demand access to resources and connecting them with relevant networks. Empowering value exchange within their existing networks and enabling low-risk experimentation to foster innovation and growth.
  • Partnering with Microbusinesses: Collaborating to enhance the reach of their specialised offerings and establishing value-chain partnerships that integrate microbusinesses as crucial links. Leveraging microbusinesses as key nodes to deliver value in local communities.


Image on the left: Some screenshots from the design toolkit.

The toolkit we delivered - including actionable insights, a framework for designing for microbusiness motivations and an experience model mapping out the key challenges in the microbusiness experience - enabled consortium partners to further develop their offerings within the identified opportunity areas

Back to example work

Copyright © 2025 Designing human systems - Todos los derechos reservados.

Con tecnología de

  • Privacy Policy

Este sitio web utiliza cookies

Usamos cookies para analizar el tráfico del sitio web y optimizar tu experiencia en el sitio. Al aceptar nuestro uso de cookies, tus datos se agruparán con los datos de todos los demás usuarios.

RechazarAceptar