74 Understand: Map out the problem and pick an important area to focus on - the need for enhancing entrepreneurial capabilities. Ideate: Sketch out competing solutions on paper - plot and design an entrepreneurial idea/product by making use of a design application. Decide: Make decisions and turn your ideas into a testable hypothesis – consider the costing and marketing as well as target market for the product. Prototype: Hack together a realistic prototype – develop and produce the product creatively. Test: Get feedback from real live users – sell/present the product to the customer/target market. The 5-day Design Sprint aimed to assist students to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Team Players i. A decider: They make all the decisions that will influence the sprint goal and the final product. (student) ii. Facilitator: Provides guidance in the progress of developing the product and assists with time management. They ensure that the final product is ready on the decided and agreed upon time. (lecturer and industry partner) iii. Marketer: The key person for marketing the product. (student) iv. Customer service: The person who interacts with your potential target market /customers. (student) v. Designer: The person who designs the product and helps to realise the vision of the goal. (student) vi. Technical person: The person who understands what your company can produce and understands the technology to be used. (student) vii. Financial person: The person who can explain how much the project will cost and how much the company can expect to get from it in return. (student) For the context of the design sprint implemented, the students played most of the roles as they were developing their own products under the supervision of the lecturers and an industry partner. The design sprint offers students the opportunity to become employable graduates as well as future potential employers in the Hospitality sector as it enriches students with the needed product development knowledge, entrepreneurial abilities and offers them an opportunity to engage with industry partners - in this case, alumni of the School of Tourism and Hospitality at the University of Johannesburg.
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