Our second ANDE Member Showcase webinar featured Ahmad Azuar Zazuddin, CEO of Satu Creative, who shared practical insights on using human-centered design and innovation to support entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
Azuar outlined the creative process, underscoring the importance of empathy, testing, iteration, and collaboration. He highlighted how powerful it is to frame challenges as open, optimistic questions, especially using “How might we…?” questions, to encourage curiosity, creativity, and joint problem-solving.
He stressed the need to frame problems broadly enough to invite new ideas, yet still grounded and realistic. Azuar emphasized careful observation of people’s real behaviors and daily routines, and adapting programs to fit the specific realities of different communities. Tools like empathy maps help practitioners gain a deeper, more holistic understanding of what people say, think, do, and feel.
Azuar then turned to the unique challenges facing rural entrepreneurs. They have limited exposure to profitable business models. Their ability to test new ideas is constrained by financial risk. And support programs often don’t align with their actual needs, schedules, or contexts. This led to a rich discussion on how to help rural entrepreneurs identify their business advantages, experiment safely, and design support programs that truly fit their lives.
Looking ahead in the innovation journey, Azuar outlined key next steps: generating ideas, running pilots, collecting data, and continuously improving through an ongoing, circular process, rather than treating innovation as a one-off project.
During the Questions and Answers, he shared concrete methods such as empathy mapping, feedback canvases, and co-creation with target groups, for example, involving women entrepreneurs directly in designing programs for them. He also discussed how to prioritize challenges based on both potential impact and practical feasibility, ensuring that limited resources are focused where they can make the most difference.
Why this matters
Too many enterprise support programs fail because they’re designed from the outside in and built on assumptions rather than real understanding of entrepreneurs’ daily realities. This disconnect wastes resources and leaves entrepreneurs underserved. Human-centered design offers a practical fix: it shifts practitioners from prescribing solutions to discovering what actually works through direct engagement with the people they aim to serve.
Key takeaways
Start small with three changes:
- Before designing your next program, spend time observing how entrepreneurs actually work, not just what they say they need.
- Reframe at least one major challenge your organization faces as a “How might we…?” question and involve your target entrepreneurs in answering it.
- Build iteration into your work: launch smaller pilots, collect feedback fast, and adjust based on what you learn rather than committing to fixed, year-long programs.
The goal isn’t perfection on the first try. It’s creating a rhythm of learning and improving that makes your support more relevant with each cycle.