These Design Thinking Workshops were part of Phase 2 of the competition – where the top 20 schools were invited to collaborate and develop paper prototypes of their solutions. This phase has offered learners from various schools in the country, an opportunity to experience hands-on collaborative guidance from Samsung’s mentors who helped them to tackle the next phase of their prototype developments.

Themed: “Infrastructure and Safety” – the Design Thinking workshops in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest are designed to equip learners with the skills to transform their ideas into workable solutions, particularly those addressing community challenges. The recent workshops focused on critical thinking, human-centred problem-solving and collaborative design.

According to Lefa Makgato, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for Samsung Electronics in Southern Africa: “It was amazing to see how well the school learners and their educators that participated in this year’s Design Thinking Workshops responded to their assigned mentors and the experience as a whole. Both the learners and their educators found this experience engaging and beneficial for their learning and design processes.”

“As Samsung, we believe that the activities that these learners engaged in during the workshops are meeting the overall objectives of the Solve for Tomorrow competition. This contest has, from the onset, been seeking to foster collaboration among the learners, educators and their mentors as well as to develop their skills and promote a growth mindset. Importantly, this experience has now encouraged independent learning, challenged the learners’ perspectives and allowed their mentors the opportunity to provide them with valuable feedback.”

Some of the aspects of the Design Thinking workshops included the following:

• Skills Development: Learners have gained valuable skills in translating their ideas into practical solutions that can solve their respective communities’ problems.
• Human-Centred Design: The workshops emphasised understanding user needs and created solutions that can address real-world challenges.
• Cognitive & Structured Processes: Participants have now learnt structured processes for creative problem-solving.
• Collaboration & Communication: The workshops have fostered teamwork and improved the learner’s communication skills, which are essential for successful project development.
• Prototype Development: These workshops have now successfully prepared learners for the next phase of the competition, where they will develop and present their prototypes.
• Inspiration & Motivation: The workshops are designed to foster a mindset of innovation and problem-solving, encouraging learners to “think, speak and act like designers.
• Support for Teachers: The workshops have also gone an extra mile as they have benefitted the teachers as well. This platform and the mentors have provided the tools and guidance for the educators to support their learners in the next, prototype development phase.

And furthermore, with the help of Samsung mentors – the workshops have cultivated a mindset of innovation and great problem-solving skills. The Samsung team is convinced that the solutions developed by the brilliant learners in conjunction with their educators during this year’s workshops – have the potential to make a real difference in their respective communities.

Makgato added: “We are pleased with the impact and outcomes of this year’s Design Thinking Workshops. And, we are certain that these workshops have achieved the objective of enhancing the learners’ ability to identify, analyse and solve problems creatively and effectively. 

“As Samsung, we remain committed to using programmes such as the Solve for Tomorrow to bridge the country’s resource gap in STEM education. We believe that by fostering innovation and social impact through technology, we also inspire learners to use their skills to improve their respective communities,” she concluded.

The Top 20 schools that were selected to attend this year’s Samsung Solve for Tomorrow – Design Thinking workshops were paired with a group of mentors who were more than ready to turn and empower participating school learners into the next generation of problem-solvers. During these workshops which took place between April 10 and May 30, the 2025 mentors were able to assist both the participating learners and their educators by ensuring that they were equipped with essential skills and tools to approach problem-solving creatively and systematically.

These advisors also played a crucial role in ensuring that the workshops fostered critical thinking, design thinking practices, teamwork and the ability for the learners to develop human-centred solutions. During these workshops, the mentors were able to offer support through Question & Answer (Q&A) sessions, video calls and other forms of communication. And when the work of these mentors was analysed – looking at how they contributed in empowering learners from different schools to transform ideas into tangible solutions that address real-world challenges – ultimately leading to positive change in their communities – this is how the whole process penned out:

Zanele Sobuswa who was assigned to mentor learners form Mthiyaqhwa High School, in Kwa-Zulu Natal expressed just how  excited she was to be part of the group of mentors this year as well. Last year, Zanele mentored Mbilwi Secondary School learners that hailed from Limpopo into a second place win. She is convinced that she can also help this year’s KZN-based school to not only move into the Top 10, but also to be part of the Top 3 winners for 2025.

This year, Zanele acted as a support structure – guiding learners of Mthiyaqhwa High School through the competition process and provided them with guidance in areas of problem-solving, research and prototyping. As a committed advisor who contributed to the development of learners last year as well – Zanele has once again helped to develop these incredible learner’s skills in STEM and encouraged their creative thinking capacity.

Another dynamic Samsung employee who returned as a volunteer this year is Rose Legodi. Rose is a very passionate marketing professional at Samsung – she possesses a curious nature, which allows her to approach life with imagination, creativity and an open mind. She was yet again more than willing to share her expertise, experience and guidance with the learners from two Bloemfontein-based schools: Lenakeng Technical and Lereng Secondary Schools.

In addition, Rose played a critical role in guiding learners from the two schools through the competition process and this included brainstorming and research – in preparation for the prototype development stage. She was also able to assist this year’s learners and their educators to not only identify a challenge, but to also come up with a solution that will help address a genuine and pressing issue within their community related to infrastructure and safety, using technology. Like all the other advisors, she also ensured that the ideas for their solutions were based on the 2025 theme: “Infrastructure and Safety”.

Sizwe Mahlobo, another dedicated volunteer was assigned to a Limpopo based school – Thengwe Secondary. Sizwe has played a pivotal role in keeping his students focused and on track throughout the competition. He has successfully provided guidance and support to the learners, helping them to understand the competition’s requirements and develop their solutions. Importantly, during the workshops – Sizwe was able to help both the learners and teachers of Thengwe Secondary School with planning, learning and developing their solution – using the design thinking process.

As a mentor and advisor, he has also managed to offer STEM expertise and experience, checking the learners’ ideas and helping them refine their solutions. Sizwe has successfully provided guidance and support to the learners as they are in the process of developing their projects and prototypes – helping them to refine their ideas even further, while improving their problem-solving skills.

With the help of the Samsung mentors – one of the most significant and consistent takeaways from this year’s workshops is how the learners were able to effortlessly exercise their critical thinking skills. They have now been able to add to their STEM proficiency and are prepared for the rigors of higher education. Another critical observation is the growth in the learners confidence – allowing them to take on leadership roles, collaborate with their peers and successfully prepare to build their fully realised projects from idea to execution.

The workshops were developed to encourage learners to think, speak and act like designers, 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. The competition officially launched in South Africa in January this year, and is now in its second phase where the teachers, learners and mentors need to research and develop their prototype in preparation for the finale.

The workshops assisted the learners to understand a cognitive and structured process for human-centred, creative problem-solving. They were also aimed to help them foster creative and critical thinking, collaboration and communication skills through project-based learning, as well as learn and practice key activities of the Design Thinking process including preparing for interviews, identifying a point of view, brainstorming and making a paper prototype. The learners were also taught and encouraged to immerse themselves in the work by doing it themselves to get a first-hand experience and thus the necessary skills to apply towards their creative solutions.

“This unique competition is our contribution to youth empowerment and skills creation in the information communication technology sector to help country play a meaningful role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). It was designed to increase interest and proficiency in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), gives grade 10 and 11 learners from underserved communities an opportunity to gain invaluable skills while solving some of their communities’ challenges,” said Hlubi Shivanda, Director: Business Operations and Innovation and Corporate Affairs at Samsung.

The Top 10 schools are:

The finalists will have until the end of September 2023 to work on and complete their prototypes. Following that, they will then present to a panel of judges at the beginning of October as they vie for the top prize. The winning school will get a prize of R100 000 worth of STEM equipment for their school, while second and third positions will get R50 000 and R30 000 worth of STEM equipment for their schools respectively. In addition to the main prizes, each of the learners in the top three teams will be rewarded with a Samsung device.

Samsung proudly supports Busan’s bid for the World Expo 2030.