UNAIR NEWS 鈥 The SDGs Center at (UNAIR), in partnership with the SDGs Ambassadors, held the SDGs School event at the Bayu Kinara Room in the Airlangga Convention Center. On the second day, Thursday (May 15, 2025), participants attended a session on social entrepreneurship led by Al Marifatul A鈥檒a, SEI, MA.
A鈥檒a stressed that achieving success in social entrepreneurship depends heavily on careful planning. However, beyond a strong plan, a team鈥檚 deep understanding of each member鈥檚 background and skillset is essential.
鈥淭he synergy within a team is a crucial factor in developing strategies that are both practical and sustainable,鈥 A鈥檒a said. 鈥淎n effective team complements one another, understands individual strengths and weaknesses, and leverages each person鈥檚 capabilities to achieve a shared business vision.鈥
Applying design thinking in social intrepreneurship
A鈥檒a introduced four key principles to guide impactful innovation. The first, she said, is empathy. She explained that effective innovation must begin with a deep understanding of users and their daily lives. 鈥淭o create meaningful solutions, you must truly understand your users鈥攖heir experiences, needs, and challenges. This empathy can be developed through observation, interaction, and active listening,鈥 she explained.
The second principle is define, which involves framing the problem accurately. A鈥檒a emphasized that correctly identifying the problem is essential to crafting effective solutions. A clear and well-defined problem helps the team stay focused, inspires innovation, guides decision-making, and provides a basis for evaluating potential ideas.
After defining the problem, the third principle is ideate. At this stage, the goal is not to find the 鈥減erfect鈥 idea but to generate as many ideas as possible. This broad approach fosters creativity and opens the door to a wide range of possible solutions.
Lastly, A鈥檒a highlighted the importance of prototyping and testing. 鈥淪tart by developing a prototype with a strong focus on user needs. Once created, the prototype should be tested directly with users,鈥 he said. This process helps teams observe how users interact with the solution, refine the design, and ultimately improve the user experience.
Author: Arifatun Nazilah
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia
