Final Task

Headboy’s innovation culture

An innovative culture begins with the organizational attitude of accepting that the world really has changed. It’s about cultivating a mindset to learn to see the world in new ways (Fastcompany, 2014).Headboy industries Inc. drive innovation on a constant basis by creating a culture. This emphasizes significant cultural changes that need to be made in the company to help innovation become a more regular and natural concept (Oxfordcollegeofmarketing,2015).The innovation culture of Headboy industries stem from South Africa’s youngest patent holder Ludwick Marishane on his journey of creating an interesting product through the process of reverse innovation, a concept he hopes would inspire young South African entrepreneurs (Ventureburn, 2015).With focus on the innovative patent and the use of reverse innovation ,his mission is to develop innovative products that solve the global consumer’s pressing needs, while contributing extensively to the development of Africa’s own world-leading innovation ecosystem. The process of reverse innovation begins by focusing on needs and requirements for low-cost products. Once the products are developed for these markets, they are then sold elsewhere at low prices which in turn creates new markets and uses for these innovations (Davinci, 2015).The mission behind DryBath is to get off the ground and prove their capacity to innovate and give back to South Africa’s innovation scene (Venturburn, 2015).The founder of Headboy industries suggests the most important skill one requires is to cultivate the ability to learn very quickly, and to fail very quickly in order to learn. If you work on something you’re truly passionate about and have social support for the work you’re doing, the rest sorts itself out (Venturesafrica, 2015).

How does Headboy’s leadership cultivate a culture of innovation?

Innovation is a critical force in the improvement of organizational performance and in enhancing economic growth and development. Ludwick Marishane recognises that Headboy Industries Inc. must be innovative to survive and flourish in the competitive and rapidly changing environment and is involved in the idea generation and implementation of products during the innovation process. The importance of innovation & knowledge creation in organizations is enhanced by the relationship and leadership styles within the organization (iosrjournals, 2013).The success of HeadboyIndustires Inc. links to their leadership structure and culture in contributing to the company’s successful innovation. They are effective in supporting business performance to ensure leadership in the industry.

As a leader at Headboy Industries Inc., Ludwick’s journey into creative entrepreneurship was not by accident or chance, it was cultivated and nurtured by his father who had always encouraged innovative ideas. He credits his dad for fanning the flame of entrepreneurship in him while he was in his first year at high school (Venturesafrica, 2015). His love for science has encouraged his quest in inventing things, it was the invention of the first Drybath product in the world which brought Marishane into the limelight. The simple question from a lazy friend (why doesn’t someone invent something you can just put on your skin and avoid the need to bathe?) who refused to take a bath, triggered Ludwick’s inquisitive mind to make a research on a solution to the problem. His idea led to the creation of an anti-bacteria cleanser he called “Dry- Bath.” DryBath, a clear gel, is the world’s first and only bath-substituting skin gel, which works without soap and water. Since the invention of DryBath, Marishane has patented the product and registered it as a company to commercialize it.

They seek to become the home of African innovation, providing global solutions to global consumers. This is aligned in their mission to contribute extensively to the development of a globally-inclusive African innovation ecosystem. The company is currently focused on globally commercializing its DryBath Gel product and contributing to youth development through their Pioneers @Uni program (Headboy, n.d). Their mission is to develop innovative products that solve the global consumer’s pressing needs, while contributing extensively to the development of Africa’s own world-leading innovation ecosystem (Southafricainfo, 2015).

Headboy Industries believe in the pursuit of a sustainable society, where Headboy’s products & services can play an instrumental role in creating a mindful contribution to their customers' ability to fulfill the individual & societal purpose (Headboy, n.d). Marishane’s focus is on successfully commercializing the DryBath® Gel as the global standard for the waterless personal hygiene retail segment. This experience is being used to develop the experimental expertise for developing innovative products & processes that practically solve problems for African & other customers (Linkedin, n.d).

Apart from Drybath they are commercializing an innovation that increases the ROI on bursaries offered to university students.Their work is focused on the model Headboy as a commercial technology innovation company, with an intense focus on conducting measurable experiments that can produce measurable insights & sustainable growth for our private or public clients (Linkedin, n.d).

Ludwick run’s his business full-time, while working on initiatives that promote technology & innovation entrepreneurship, amongst young people. He is currently focused on developing a viable case that will be used to position Headboy Industries Inc. as a privately run technology innovation agency, with an intense focus on conducting measurable commercial experiments that can produce sustainable results for private or public clients (Inspiration Indaba,2015). Marishane sees himself as a visionary, and aims to understand the world of business whereby Africa will be the first to benefit from his skills. He has have good leadership capabilities, and an innate understanding of people and business processes (Venturesafrica, 2015).

Headboy’s drivers of innovation

Nurturing Talent

Headboy industries Inc. embed creative thinking, share and bring ideas to the table, and comprise of individuals who have a natural talent within their field. Based on the way they think, feel, perform tasks and absorb information they can lead innovation in their chosen area if their talent is nurtured (Oxfordcollegeofmarketing, 2015).

Managing Creativity

The process of acknowledgement and reward is crucial to further innovation at Headboy industries Inc. When individuals and groups within the team feel their ideas are valued and recognised, they are more likely to bring future ideas to the table. Having a set process in place for encouraging and managing creativity help to keep it flowing and drive innovation (Oxfordcollegeofmarketing, 2015).

Innovators want to have an impact

Headboy industries Inc. are at the leading edge of practice and knowledge, working with the right manager, teammates, tools & resources .Impacting the world for Headboy industries Inc. means providing products or services that significantly change people’s lives, while at the same time helping the environment and making the world a more open place (Eremedia, 2016).

Lean on customers

Understanding the customer’s problems through embracing tools such as the customer empathy map to uncover new opportunities to create value. This customer insight is the foundation for Headboy industries to lean their approach to product innovation through rapid prototyping and designing partnerships with lead users to improve their product and business model (Harvard, 2015).

Think like a designer

Innovation involves creating new options and this is where designers excel. Headboy industries’ design thinking requires the tools to search for undisputed market space and make competition within the market (Harvard, 2015).

Lead the way

Innovative leaders as role models is a key driver on the journey to innovation. Ludwick Marishane’s focus is on successfully commercializing their DryBath Gel as the global standard for the waterless personal hygiene retail segment. His innovative experience is being used to develop the experimental expertise for developing innovative products & processes that solve problems for Africa & other customers (Headboy, n.d).

Does DryBath have specific barriers or enablers of innovation, if so, what are they?

Growing up, Marishane wanted to be a scientist, however, his journey had a taken a turn from trying to develop his own biofuel and also creating a “healthy” cigarette made with tea leaves. After Marishane had developed these various concepts, he had discovered that there was a problem, posing as a barrier, in his process of innovation. He pointed out that innovation occurs in such a way that products are generally initiated in developed markets and then are adapted to emerging ones. Those innovations did not hold a specific place in the market. Ultimately, Marishane wanted to create democratic products that would be created from a need of a newly surfacing market, by adding value to the market which he saw as an opportunity, thus, an enabler. He had concluded that, if his newly found innovation caused 10% of the world to skip a bath once a week, then we could delay water works by as much as a year or two. The idea of Drybath was just a dream in its first years of progress. However, Marishane soon met up with a technical co-founder who then developed a prototype for DryBath. Soon after, the product attracted a lot of attention from the press and multinationals started approaching. The product was selling based on the fact that DryBath’s sole purpose was intended to save water. Marishane and his team had then began to continue with market research and concluded that about 40% of customers used the product outdoors when they went camping and 60% of the market is composed of people who are going to the office, housewives and people travelling abroad. Marishane and team had then revamped their website and refocused their target audience which increased their sales by 100% within the space of a year simply because they were able to better understand the market. The company had finally developed a type of concept whereby investing R1, R1.50 comes out of the investment. Today, Marishane is working with Pick ‘n Pay who is looking to sell DryBath for R5 a sachet within the following six months, having turned the barriers he has faced into enablers (Coetzee, 2015).

Systems thinking

Systems thinking is a comprehensive approach to analysis that focuses on the manner in which a system’s components incorporate with each other over a period of time and work together within the context of much larger systems (Rouse, 2005).

Design thinking

Design thinking is a strategy used by innovators to solve complex problems and therefore find appropriate solutions for clients. A design mindset is focused on the solution of the problem and is response oriented. Innovators use their skills to match their client’s needs to what is technologically profitable and with what a practical business strategy is able to convert into customer value and hence, market opportunity (Naiman, n.d).

Diffusion of innovation theory

Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system .An Innovation is an idea, practice, or object perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption (Communication theory, 2013).The diffusion of innovation theory analyses how the social members adopt the new innovative ideas and how they make a decision towards it. According to the theory, innovations should be widely adopted in order to attain development and sustainability. In real life situations the adaptability of culture plays a relevant role where the theory is applied (Communication theory, 2013).

The Ti’ara Project’s Innovation Plan for Headboy Industries Inc

Innovate Headboy - An innovative platform

Innovate Headboy provides a platform to ignite creative thinking, to nurture invention and encourage entrepreneurship among young people. Innovate Headboy is a fun innovative space to create & inspire through our workshops, challenges, & competitions. We aim to inspire and empower young problem solvers that address challenges they truly understand. Innovate Headboy is made up of multiple independent programmes with complementary goals (Innovatesa, 2015).The purpose of Innovate Headboy is to increase the prosperity of Africans by catalyzing the innovation spirit in Africa. We want to see needs-based innovation and change happen. Our areas of activity encompass innovative programmes in the fields of access to technologies, law and governance, and social impact development. Innovate Headboy seek to establish co-operation platforms for institutions, investors and innovators, and to promote ideas to support them (African innovation, 2015). Our focus is on a multi-sectorial audience, diverse industries and disciplines where innovation is needed in Africa, always exploring opportunities for making impactful interventions in line with serving our mandate. Our core programmes seek to support & strengthen the African innovation ecosystem, promote African governance and access to law, and realize social impact (African innovation, 2015).

Objectives of Innovate Headboy

• To strengthen the African innovation ecosystem by rewarding and mobilizing for African innovators

• Honours and encourages innovative achievements that contribute towards developing new products, and increasing efficiency or saving costs in Africa

• Targets breakthrough in the following key areas- manufacturing and service industry, health and well-being, agriculture and agribusiness, environment, energy and water.

• Mobilizing leaders from all sectors to fuel African innovation

• Promoting innovation across Africa in key sectors through competitions & workshops

• Promoting science, technology and engineering as a rewarding career path among African youth

• Encouraging entrepreneurs, innovators, funding bodies and business development service providers to exchange ideas and explore innovative business opportunities.

• Acknowledges and encourages the endeavours of innovators and entrepreneurs, and works to raise their profiles on the development agenda.

• Aims to contribute to Africa’s socio-economic growth through sustained, home-gown solutions to social and development challenges (African innovation, 2015).

Goals of Innovate Headboy

• To position Innovate Headboy as a thought leader in technological innovation in South Africa

• To provide South Africa with appropriate and effective support for innovation with high social and economic impact.

• To support and enhance technological innovation in Africa and globally through partnership initiatives.

• To attract potential entrepreneurs, students & organisations

• To create increased awareness around our challenges, competitions, & workshops at Innovate Headboy through our social media presence & event marketing campaigns.

Innovate The Youth challenge

Innovate the Youth challenge is an innovation challenge that gives youth the opportunity to solve local challenges. Learners with bright ideas receive funding and support to make their ideas a reality. Innovate Youth challenge provides a platform to ignite creative thinking, to nurture invention and encourage entrepreneurship among young people. Our goal is to inspire and empower young problem solvers that address challenges they truly understand. Join us on the journey to create a “proudly south African” innovation (Innovatesa, 2015).

Further Competition Details

Do you have a working prototype or product from proven concept to early commercialization? Gain exposure, expert advice and mentorship.

Competition open: January 2017

Competition close: March 2017

PRIZES

Entering the Headboy Innovation Youth Challenge gives you the opportunity to win amazing prizes and receive plenty of exposure

Showcase your technologies, innovations and ideas to a wider audience

Obtain access to funds and acceleration support

Tap into different markets

Have access to technical expertise

WHO SHOULD TAKE PART?

Organisations or individuals with a proven concept, prototype or demo version of a product

Young entrepreneurs who are experimenting with new inventions

Young researchers with the latest discoveries at their fingertips

Judging Criteria:

The ORIGINALITY – Is your invention one of a kind?

The NEED – Is there a market for your invention?

The POTENTIAL – Is there further growth potential?

The PRACTICALITY – Does it really work?

The CREATIVITY – What have you done differently along the innovation route?

HOW TO ENTER

Let us know who you are: Name, Surname, City, Contact number and Email address

Take a selfie and post it with the #HeadboyYouthChallenge

Give your invention a title or name

Write a paragraph (150 words) about your invention

Take photos of your invention and upload it on the entry form (photos must not exceed 5 MB)

Submit entries between January and February 2017

Submit your entry to: www.headboyyouthchallenge.co.za

CONTACT

For any competition enquiries: The Ti’ara Project

Email: www.thetiaraproject2016@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetiaraproject/?ref=hl

Innovation Headboy Workshops

Innovate Headboy runs innovation and design thinking workshops with all of its participants. Our innovation workshop encourage students to solve local community problems and gives them the opportunity to submit their ideas to Innovate Headboy (Innovatesa,2015).These workshops leverage from the idea of Ludwick Marishane’s Drybath and his journey to solving his community in turn creating an innovative company and acquiring entrepreneur & leadership skills.

Start- up technology innovation competition

Enterprising individuals, small and medium-sized businesses with a company or concept that requires serious local networks, mentorship and funding to get to the next level, competition entrees must pitch their ideas online.

The Step-Up Technology Innovation Competition is a national competition to give individuals, groups and businesses particularly SMEs the opportunity to have their technology innovations evaluated and, if selected, to be assisted with access to a range of support programmes, including:

• Fast-track introductions and meetings with investors and venture capital firms

• Mentorship and commercialisation advice

• Business and entrepreneurship skills training

• Access to sector and business knowledge networks

• Introduction to programmes at Headboy Industries

• Assistance with access to business incubation

• Intensive business skills and management training workshop

Innovate Headboy workshops for Buisnesses/organisations

Innovation is vital to compete in a disrupted world. Benchmark your innovation capabilities, refine your strategy, and showcase your success. Innovation is about pushing boundaries, reaching further, seeing a gap and having the ability to fill it. As digital continues to disrupt, innovation and establishing a culture of innovation in business is vital to transformation and competitiveness. Organisations must consciously nurture innovation within their business, people and networks (Accenture, 2016).

Do you want to know how your organisation ranks in terms of innovation? How you can be better at it? If you want to showcase a product, process, service, or system innovation within the South African marketplace, the Innovate Headboy workshop will have a great influence of innovation in your organisation (Accenture, 2016).

Why you should participate?

A single brilliant idea, brought to market with the right support, can transform the way we work and live, overturn industries, rocket your company to success, and reset benchmarks.

Define your innovation strategy?

Clarify and measure all aspects of your organisation's innovation capability.

Get customised feedback?

Harness untapped opportunities to prolong the lifespan and enhance the impact of your innovative concepts and capabilities.

Strengthen your network?

Extend your business network and gain exposure to other prominent business leaders by participating in the Innovate Headboy workshops for Buisnesses/organisations

Put your innovation in the spotlight?

Get maximum exposure and recognition as an innovator.

Recruit great talent

Enhance your attractiveness as an employer by being acknowledged as an innovative organisation.

Access potential funding?

Drive awareness of your innovation capability or concept and attract funding through recognition and exposure.

Be Inspired

Meet, connect with, and be inspired by leading global, African and local thought leaders and their leading-edge thinking and insights

Champion innovation in South Africa

Help cultivate an innovation psyche in South Africa, a national imperative for growth and job creation.

Headboy Innovation Market

Headboy Innovation Market is an exciting new market experience we aim to bring to Cape Town, Johannesburg & Durban every month. The Headboy Innovation Market aims to be ‘A fun day of innovation and inventiveness’, the market is the offi­cial exhibition area of the Innovate Headboy, an organic Innovation experience that encapsulates the activities, ambitions and business approaches of South Africa’s foremost thought leaders and innovation drivers (market on the edge,2016).

The market has been structured to bring entrepreneurs together with technology providers, funders and government agencies. The market Innovation architecture will showcase the possibilities of sustainable design, as well as the experience and ideas of all participants.

Features of the event will include:

• Inventors Garage – a place for inventors to showcase their inventions.

• Chill zones – for networking and socialising

• Live entertainment and delicious, innovative food options.

• Technology

• Craft exhibitors

• Music

• Kids entertainment

Freshen up with a DryBath Campaign

DryBath

At the age of 17, Ludwick Marishane developed his waterless hygiene product, DryBath. Within a year of the birth of his innovation, he developed a 40 page business plan, applied for a patent and launched his startup, Headboy Industries Inc. Headboy Industries Inc poses as the branded house with various other house of brands such as DryBath, Excel @ Uni as well as Polymath Innovation falling within their company.

Goal

The goal is to apply design thinking, systematic thinking as well as innovation in order to analyze DryBath’s principles and practice of innovation and then propose solutions and suggestions on how to improve their innovation status and practices and innovations on how to improve and develop it.

Idea

For this part of the innovation process, we have decided to carry out a campaign that will aid in marketing DryBath as well as make the public aware of our current drought situation in South Africa by helping manage the problem by making use of Ludwick Marishane’s DryBath products yet maintain their personal hygiene without the use of water.

The first step of the process would be to propose a new idea to Marishane to use design thinking in order to create a new DryBath product with a similar consistency to that of water, however, by using very little or no water at all in the process of creating the new product.

Once this product has been created, it will be used in a campaign that will be carried out in various parts of South Africa.

We have designed a campaign that requires our clients at HeadBoy Industries to collaborate with Shell Ultra cities across South Africa as well as water conservation organizations such as Rand Water and even World Wide Fund South Africa. The aim of the campaign will be to target travelers and tourists while on the road and encourage the usage of DryBath products to promote the importance of water conservation yet still maintain basic hygiene by using no water at all. The task of The Ti’ara Project will be to build the brands’ (Headboy Industries’ Inc) equity by creating awareness of their brand and product offerings, particularly DryBath, and then attempt to build customer loyalty by getting people to try out DryBath and then convince them to use it instead of water. Some people may be skeptical of not having a shower or not using water to maintain their standards of hygiene, but, by collaborating with water conservation organizations to support the drive, it will add credibility to our campaign. Therefore, people will be more confident to try out better alternatives (DryBath) in making the water conservation process a comfortable and successful one.

The campaign will be carried out at various Shell Ultra cities at major stopping destinations across the country, where portable bathrooms will be set up to accommodate traveling citizens and tourists. The geysers will only contain DryBath’s new waterless sanitation product (with a consistency similar to that of water) and will run out through sensor taps and will also be used in the toilet flushing systems. There will also be cubicles set up for people to freshen up after a long day or night of being on the go. These cubicles will contain a bench, fresh towels, a mirror and all available DryBath products. The toilets will have a high pressure flushing system (similar to that which is found on ships and planes) also containing DryBath’s new sanitizer instead of water in the tanks.

We aim to attract awareness for the campaign through their social media presence over platforms such as Facebook and Twitter with #ShowerWithoutWater #DryBath.

Participants

The people participating in the concept development and implementation of the campaign will include us at The Ti’ara Project as well as our clients at Headboy Industries Inc. Participants of the actual campaign will be travelers and tourists, specifically those who will be stopping at Shell Ultra cities.

Budget

The budget that will be used will be the one set out by our clients after they approve of the concept. We will then adapt the campaign according to our budget to meet the objectives of the new innovation process in order for it to be successful.

Resources

The resources that will be used to carry out this campaign will consist of the portable toilets and cubicles as well as Ludwick Marishane’s DryBath products.

Timeframe

This campaign will be carried out during the months of October, November and December 2017.

Rewards

As a result of the campaign, people will be more aware of the drought situation our country is currently facing and helping to take action against the situation by using DryBath’s products to help save water yet still maintain personal hygiene standards.

Roll out plan for Freshen up with a DryBath

The allocated budget needs to be decided on by the end of July 2016.

The tangible innovation process and creation of the new DryBath product will be carried out during August and September 2016.

The design of the bathrooms as well as their location at the Ultra cities need to be completed by the end of October 2016.

Promoters, sponsors as well as HeadBoy staff who will be responsible for marketing the product and creating awareness need to be sourced by the end of February 2017.

Resources used to carry out the campaign need to be sourced by the end of May 2017.

The campaign needs to be set up at the various stops around the country by the end of September 2017, ready to be put to use from October through to December 2017.

Improvements

Upon the success of the campaign, we will be motivated to carry out similar campaigns at music festivals, outdoor events as well as the Innovation Headboy Markets around the country. The idea of placing vending machines at airports and garages containing DryBath products is also under consideration. We will also be open to gaining various other sponsorships from appropriate organizations who will be willing to collaborate with us on the success of DryBath as well as on the conservation of water in South Africa.