Ademide Adefarasin: How Do We Design Solutions That Truly Serve Communities?

Dec 4

Written By sara .

In an era where social challenges have become increasingly complex, how can we ensure that our solutions are truly effective? At the intersection of design, consulting, and strategy, Ademide Adefarasin, Design Director at IDEO.org, connects human stories with the strategic priorities of decision-makers. Her methodology is deeply anchored in lived experiences, ensuring that the strategies authentically reflect the diverse needs and challenges faced by various communities.

"Making sure that the strategy is rooted in human stories and lived experiences allows for authentic representation," she explains. This belief leads Adefarasin to emphasise the importance of understanding real-life experiences. She explains, "People living through something can tell you where it uniquely hurts, which you might not see if you're solely looking at data." This principle drives her participatory methodology, helping individuals envision futures that transcend their immediate desires.

As strategy is about choices, it's essential to identify who the decision-makers are. A participatory strategy enables a connection between the appropriate organisational choice-makers and individuals with lived experiences, ensuring that the decisions made are genuinely informed by real needs. Although there’s often concern that including others in the decision-making process might hinder executives' agency, this is not the case. "What we try to do is create space in participatory strategy such that individuals can bring their experience, executives can weigh it, but the final decision is sort of going to be somewhere in between." Such an approach fosters collaboration and inclusivity, ultimately uniting all stakeholders.

Growing up between Nigeria and the United Kingdom provided her with a profound understanding of socio-economic inequalities. As she reflects, "I saw people living much more comfortable lives, even if they weren't wealthy, in the United Kingdom, whereas in Nigeria, I was surrounded by significant economic disparities." This stark contrast deeply influenced her worldview, prompting her to explore concepts like equality and human dignity from a new perspective.

Although she pursued a double major in Chemistry and Business Management, Ademide's ambitions transcended the confines of the laboratory. Her desire to combine analytical precision with tangible real-world impact led her to the field of management consulting. A presentation by Capgemini ignited this interest and set her on a path that took her from the UK to prestigious institutions around the world, including Accenture in Nigeria, the World Bank Group, NYU's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and IDEO.org in New York City.

Consulting with the Central Bank of Nigeria provided Ademide with invaluable insights into the interconnectedness of financial services and economic welfare in developing countries, revealing the transformative potential of financial inclusion. "In many developing countries the financial sector is truly driving change in terms of development," underscoring the significant social implications of this sector's influence.

According to the OECD, approximately 1.4 billion adults worldwide remain "unbanked," a situation that disproportionately affects women, the impoverished, those with limited education, and rural populations. The World Economic Forum highlights that many women reach retirement age without adequate savings, partly due to career interruptions and low-paying jobs. IDEO.org's initiatives, such as the BRAC Shakti programme, exemplify efforts to alleviate this disparity by empowering women with digital financial tools and crucial peer support.

Initially, Ademide was drawn to government roles, believing that top-down approaches were essential for effecting broad social change. However, she soon realised that many individuals were already active in the public sector and that her contributions could have a more significant impact from a different angle. "Maybe the place where I can add unique value is actually more from the bottom up," she explains.

Ademide’s early experiences at IDEO.org taught her the value of iterative design and starting small while maintaining a broader vision. "Sometimes, in the service of doing things for the greater good, you might want to start small, have a vision, and then think about what we can tackle before expanding," she advises.

She emphasises the significance of defining the right problem, describing it as the most challenging yet rewarding aspect of the design process. "Once you get the right question, everything else kind of falls into place," she asserts. This process involves conducting workshops with both clients and communities to identify core pain points and needs. By facilitating these discussions, hidden challenges and aspirations emerge, allowing insights to be distilled into a clear and focused question that guides efforts towards effective solutions.

However, she cautions against the pursuit of perfection: 'Sometimes that's where the design process goes wrong,' she explains, suggesting that teams often spend too much time refining questions and not enough on making, learning, and problem-solving as a way to arrive at the best question.

When it comes to identifying valuable insights, she asserts, "The best insights I’ve seen are often those I can't stop thinking about." This relentless curiosity drives her to delve deeper into these insights and explore how they can influence the design process.

Looking ahead, Ademide envisions a future where technological innovation fosters greater equity, improves access to healthcare, and transforms education for all. This vision aligns with emerging trends, particularly the potential of AI to tackle health inequities. As highlighted in a Harvard Business Review article, AI can leverage diverse data types to predict and intervene at every stage of a patient’s journey—from identifying at-risk individuals to overcoming communication barriers, addressing gaps in access to resources, and enhancing diversity in clinical trials.

Ademide’s background in consulting—which often sees strategic work remaining unimplemented—makes her deeply appreciate the tangible impact of her projects at IDEO.org, where initiatives translate into real-world change almost immediately.

As Ademide continues to bridge the gap between design and community needs, her journey serves as a powerful reminder that meaningful change arises from understanding the stories and struggles of those directly affected. By adopting a participatory approach, she not only fosters innovation but also cultivates a culture of empathy and collaboration.

Ultimately, her focus is on creating a tangible impact, rooted in the belief that "even if it's just one or two people whose lives have been meaningfully changed by the work that I’ve done, that's enough." This conviction underscores a profound truth: meaningful design transcends merely offering solutions; it is fundamentally about inspiring hope and driving significant change.

Ademide recommends:

Books:

101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization by Vijay Kumar

The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman

Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs by Larry Keeley,

Bansi Nagji, Helen Walters

Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation by Tim Brown

Rotman on Design: The Best on Design Thinking from Rotman Magazine by Roger Martin

Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change by Victor Papanek

Podcasts:

How I Built This, David Kelly

IDEO U Creative Confidence Podcast

How can companies be part of the solution?

Embrace Participatory Approaches: Involve different stakeholders in different parts of the process. From ideation to co-creation of strategies.
Ground Strategies in Human Experience: When developing projects or initiatives, prioritise understanding the lived experiences and challenges of those you aim to serve.
Start Small, Think Big: Initiate your projects with manageable goals while keeping a broader vision in mind. Recognise that incremental changes can lead to significant impacts over time.
Balance Feedback and Outcomes: While community feedback is vital, stay focused on meaningful outcomes rather than merely fulfilling expressed desires, which can sometimes lead to misguided solutions.
Iterative Design Process: The design process should be flexible, prioritising the formulation of good questions without becoming fixated on perfection. This allows for timely and effective problem-solving.