Challenge

Agriculture is Africa's backbone, accounting for more than half of the  country's GDP in Kenya alone. This is really remarkable. Unfortunately, the  farmers who contributed to this outstanding figure continue to live in  poverty. This is due to a lack of knowledge about where to find markets for  their products, as well as a lack of knowledge about market prices, forcing  them to rely on exploitative middlemen who take advantage of the situation.  In addition, their revenue is diluted by a lengthy distribution network. I want  to built an online platform that uses mobile and web technology to connect  small-scale farmers with buyers. My goal is to develop a basic technology  that farmers can readily utilise, given that the majority of farmers reside in  rural locations with limited access to internet services. This initiative  involves IT staff and the marketing team, Because the initiative is new, it is  operated entirely by volunteers. This project's timeline should be no more  than three months in order to allow our software development team enough  time to produce a prototype of the technology. Our partners will assist us  with structuring the initial version of the technology so that we may test it  with our primary consumers. Once we get the prototype, our marketing  team will assist us in doing our initial go-to-market study.

Selection

We have opted to use the learning launch tool as a group. This, we feel,  will aid us in developing a simple yet effective system that our consumers  can simply traverse. We went through many design thinking exercises with  some farmers to create a go-to-market prototype. This task aided us in  deciding on the learning launch tool for our challenge. This tool will assist  us in going through an iterative process to enhance our solution. Working  with the prototype will allow us to test the concept on a broader group of  farmers.

Application

Our first launch focused on offering a smartphone-based mobile application  with great capabilities such as image capturing, chat, and location. This is  to guarantee that we get high-quality information on farm goods that  farmers want to sell. Our primary goal was to study farmers' interactions  with the mobile app. This method assisted us in better understanding our  market; many farmers appreciated the technology's concept; however, the

majority of them did not own a smartphone and had restricted or no internet  access owing to their remote geographical position. The majority of farmers  have a basic feature phone that ran the Symbian operating system. After  conducting extensive research on the farmers, we discovered that we  should have prioritized human-centered design above product-centered  design. We spent the next three days working with both our marketing and  IT teams, as well as the farmers, to enhance the technology so that it could  run on a feature phone. We considered all options before settling on  developing a USSD platform. Our second launch involved distributing the  new platform to a group of farmers to observe how they interacted with it.  Our main goal was to look around and see if there were any holes. This  method assisted us in better understanding our market and what our users  regarded basic. After evaluating the second platform, we conducted  interviews with the farmers who used it to learn about their experiences and  to see if the second prototype was simple to use. Our top aim was to make  the platform as user-friendly as possible for the farmers.

Insight

We created and evaluated our solutions using the learning tool. We were  able to update our mobile application to fulfil the expectations of our users  as a result of the learning process. We discovered that the farmers were  more at ease using the second mobile application as a result of this  procedure. The findings of this approach were utilized by our marketing  staff to re-strategize our marketing campaign. Moving forward, our  company will priorities human-centered design in order to improve our  products and services.

Approach

The learning launch is the best tool for our company. We must analyze the  insights obtained from our first two launches as a team and apply this  knowledge into future launch plans since this is the most effective and best  manner of approaching and executing solutions. Future launch designs  should reflect the knowledge acquired, the progress achieved, and get us  closer to a compelling solution that is ready for deployment.


Challenge Agriculture is Africa 's backbone , accounting for more than half of the country 's GDP in Kenya alone . This is really remarkable . Unfortunately , the farmers who contributed to this outstanding figure continue to live in poverty . This is due to a lack of knowledge about where to find markets for their products , as well as a lack of knowledge about market prices , forcing them to rely on exploitative middlemen who take advantage of the situation . In addition , their revenue is diluted by a lengthy distribution network . I want to built an online platform that uses mobile and web technology to connect small - scale farmers with buyers . My goal is to develop a basic technology that farmers can readily utilise , given that the majority of farmers reside in rural locations with limited access to internet services . This initiative involves IT staff and the marketing team , Because the initiative is new , it is operated entirely by volunteers . This project 's timeline should be no more than three months in order to allow our software development team enough time to produce a prototype of the technology . Our partners will assist us with structuring the initial version of the technology so that we may test it with our primary consumers . Once we get the prototype , our marketing team will assist us in doing our initial go - to - market study . Selection We have opted to use the learning launch tool as a group . This , we feel , will aid us in developing a simple yet effective system that our consumers can simply traverse . We went through many design thinking exercises with some farmers to create a go - to - market prototype . This task aided us in deciding on the learning launch tool for our challenge . This tool will assist us in going through an iterative process to enhance our solution . Working with the prototype will allow us to test the concept on a broader group of farmers . Application Our first launch focused on offering a smartphone - based mobile application with great capabilities such as image capturing , chat , and location . This is to guarantee that we get high - quality information on farm goods that farmers want to sell . Our primary goal was to study farmers ' interactions with the mobile app . This method assisted us in better understanding our market ; many farmers appreciated the technology 's concept ; however , the majority of them did not own a smartphone and had restricted or no internet access owing to their remote geographical position . The majority of farmers have a basic feature phone that ran the Symbian operating system . After conducting extensive research on the farmers , we discovered that we should have prioritized human - centered design above product - centered design . We spent the next three days working with both our marketing and IT teams , as well as the farmers , to enhance the technology so that it could run on a feature phone . We considered all options before settling on developing a USSD platform . Our second launch involved distributing the new platform to a group of farmers to observe how they interacted with it . Our main goal was to look around and see if there were any holes . This method assisted us in better understanding our market and what our users regarded basic . After evaluating the second platform , we conducted interviews with the farmers who used it to learn about their experiences and to see if the second prototype was simple to use . Our top aim was to make the platform as user - friendly as possible for the farmers . Insight We created and evaluated our solutions using the learning tool . We were able to update our mobile application to fulfil the expectations of our users as a result of the learning process . We discovered that the farmers were more at ease using the second mobile application as a result of this procedure . The findings of this approach were utilized by our marketing staff to re - strategize our marketing campaign . Moving forward , our company will priorities human - centered design in order to improve our products and services . Approach The learning launch is the best tool for our company . We must analyze the insights obtained from our first two launches as a team and apply this knowledge into future launch plans since this is the most effective and best manner of approaching and executing solutions . Future launch designs should reflect the knowledge acquired , the progress achieved , and get us closer to a compelling solution that is ready for deployment .