[Editorial] Samsung & Top 20 Finalist Schools in 2024 Solve For Tomorrow Competition Wrapped Up Design Thinking Workshops

Weeks of Exhilarating Skills-Transfer Sessions & A Crucial Next Step for Prototype Development Phase

Samsung recently completed a crucial part in the second phase of the Solve For Tomorrow 2024 Competition – the Design Thinking Workshops with some of the country’s brilliant young minds who are part of this year’s Solve for tomorrow competition Top 20 Finalists.

These workshops are specifically designed to help both learners and their educators to prepare for the crucial prototype development phase. More importantly, these skills-transfer sessions are not only developed to encourage learners to think, speak and act like designers, but also to build strong teams and gain research insights that could transform their ideas from the conceptual stage to a solution that addresses concerns within their communities.

Conducted in conjunction with Samsung mentors at central venues where the finalist schools are based, the Design Thinking Workshops took place from 08 April-to-14 May 2024 and the provinces that participated included Gauteng with (8 finalists), Limpopo (3), Free State (4), KwaZulu-Natal (3), Eastern Cape (1) and Mpumalanga (1).

The theme for this year’s competition: ‘Our Environment’ speaks to Samsung’s overall approach to business and commitment to prioritising environmental sustainability as a business imperative. This also aligns perfectly with most of the projects that the learners are undertaking in the competition which vary from recycling and water purification, to devising ways to conserve limited resources such as electricity and water.

With immense pride, Lenhle Khoza, Manager for BBBEE and Transformation at Samsung South Africa said: “As Samsung, we went into the workshops to transfer skills to learners from the Top 20 Finalist schools who made it because they had the best conceptual ideas this year. However, what we didn’t anticipate after spending time with them – was finding out that some of the most brilliant minds in the country were actually from the schools that are located in some of the most impoverished areas in South Africa. For us, this was both very impressive and refreshing.”

One of the main objectives for this year’s Design Thinking workshops was to equip the learners with essential skills and insights necessary to transform their innovative ideas into tangible solutions as they use Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) to address critical environmental issues within their communities. In Samsung CSR team’s interactions with the learners, they found out that some of the school learners were so passionate, self-motivated and reliant, to the extent that they proactively entered the contest without the knowledge of their teachers.

Their educators were made aware after they had submitted their entry for this contest. In addition, some of the sentiments that were shared by the beneficiaries about their experience at this year’s workshops included the following:

Both the learners and the educators expressed just how excited and honoured they felt to be part of the workshops. They expressed how grateful they were to have acquired some critical skills that included how to communicate better with their team members, how to identify and acknowledge their mistakes but most importantly, how to learn from them so that they could use this knowledge to improve their solutions. Most of the learners now know that no idea is too big or too small.

Almost all the learners and educators are confident that their schools that are part of the Top 20 Finalists will win the ultimate prize of the Solve For Tomorrow competition. The educators in particular, are convinced that their learners are very smart and creative, when given sufficient opportunities to learn. When asked what they will do with the prize money, they all indicated their plight when it comes to limited resources in their schools.

This is because most of the learners come from communities that are adversely affected by the country’s socio-economic issues. In most of these schools, there is a huge need for equipment that can be used in the schools’ science and technology labs and/or their specialisation workshops. They believe that this equipment will help their learners to enrich their knowledge and interest in technological subjects and other critical trades as well.

And furthermore, the team of facilitators which included the Samsung mentors – found the time they spent at the workshops with both the learners and their educators – very fulfilling. This was mainly because of the learner’s enthusiasm to learn and how they saw the workshops as a platform to prepare everyone for what’s coming in the next phases of the competition.

Another learner from Mbilwi Secondary, the school that won first prize in the 2023 Solve for Tomorrow contest indicated just how elated they were to be part of the Top 20 Finalist Schools for 2024. This is because the workshops presented an opportunity for their team to further develop their idea and be able to solve environmental issues within their community. The skills they felt that they learnt include co-operating with their team members, brainstorming as well as creative and critical thinking.

The Mbilwi school learner explained further: Winning last year’s competition motivated another group of learners in our school to enter the contest again this year. Last year’s win and this year’s workshops have had a very positive impact on us. We are now motivated enough to enter more competitions and to do better at school with the resources that we acquired with the prize money we won.

A learner from Kwezilomso Comprehensive school in Gqeberha – the only school from the Eastern Cape that made it to the Top 20 Finalists said: We are excited to be part of the Top 20 and we would like to win the first prize of the competition. What we’ve learnt so far are the dynamics and necessary steps that we need to implement throughout our design process as well as to consider the effects that our design could have on our community.

Khoza expressed just how impressed she and her Samsung colleagues were to see the learners’ level of confidence which grew immensely as the workshop progressed. The learners came out of their shells and showed everyone how they didn’t allow their backgrounds to hinder their progress.

“Most of these exceptional learners are actually so  oblivious of their personal surroundings and only see the world as one full of infinite possibilities – far beyond their current circumstances. As the Samsung team, we were also impressed by the educators of these learners who – against all odds and with very limited resources – are able to achieve amazing results and produce some of the country’s brightest minds,” Khoza concluded.