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Industry Sector: Apparel, Fashion & Textiles
Focus:
Customer Segments:
Supporters / Champions
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Ushani Hewage, Ushani Designs, Sri Lanka
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Ushani Designs, of Columbo, Sri Lanka started out as a student project with the University of Moratuwa’s engineering school. The founder, a youthful woman entrepreneur, 30, began her entrepreneurial journey with passion, creativity and an innovative technology for developing unique colored designs and patterns. She wanted to help rural women weavers to achieve a sustainable income - and make money for herself too. Visit Ushani on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Ushanidesign
Context
The challenge was to find a profitable business model - that made economic sense while preserving her original desire to uplift women entrepreneurs. An initial pilot project revealed interest from the weavers but no sales. Before investing further resources, she needed to truly understand what her customers needed, desired - and were willing to pay for.
Process
The process involved a series of coaching sessions - for her to learn about customer discovery interviewing - and how she could talk to potential customers, gather data, analyze findings and generate insights about the right customer segments, their personas and value proposition; how best to reach them - and build her business. (Disclosure: I was introduced to her by John A. Fraser, former President of the Association of University Technology Managers, EIR at NIST, and advisor to the World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO).
Results
Within 2 months, she pivoted to a new business model - a branded fashion house - licensing her technology in coordination with the University of Moratuwa. Demand for her designs has significantly increased, and she is now in the next phase of business development. Stakeholders include WIPO and the World Bank. As a direct result of Randy's assistance with her pitch deck and presentation skills for investor pitching, she also received funding from Sri Lanka's National Science Foundation. Her entrepreneurial success will be featured in a WIPO case study in Spring 2021.
Context
The challenge was to find a profitable business model - that made economic sense while preserving her original desire to uplift women entrepreneurs. An initial pilot project revealed interest from the weavers but no sales. Before investing further resources, she needed to truly understand what her customers needed, desired - and were willing to pay for.
Process
The process involved a series of coaching sessions - for her to learn about customer discovery interviewing - and how she could talk to potential customers, gather data, analyze findings and generate insights about the right customer segments, their personas and value proposition; how best to reach them - and build her business. (Disclosure: I was introduced to her by John A. Fraser, former President of the Association of University Technology Managers, EIR at NIST, and advisor to the World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO).
Results
Within 2 months, she pivoted to a new business model - a branded fashion house - licensing her technology in coordination with the University of Moratuwa. Demand for her designs has significantly increased, and she is now in the next phase of business development. Stakeholders include WIPO and the World Bank. As a direct result of Randy's assistance with her pitch deck and presentation skills for investor pitching, she also received funding from Sri Lanka's National Science Foundation. Her entrepreneurial success will be featured in a WIPO case study in Spring 2021.
Benefits / Outcomes
- Empowerment and inclusion - youth and women entrepreneurs
- Development of transferable, modern 21st century skills (in emerging economies, such as Sri Lanka)
- Job creation and workforce development
- Increase impact, diversify funding sources
- Sustainable and profitable business models
- Proven & evidence-based, adaptable and flexible for different stakeholders
- Serves commercial and humanitarian / philanthropic goals
- Faster IP / technology commercialization, licensing and value-added partnerships
Read about Randy Fisher / Customer Discovery Pros' role in supporting Ushani Handloom Designs from Sri Lanka, as published in Exploring the Growth and Success of Knowledge Exchange Worldwide, Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), December 2020.
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Read the full WIPO case study, June 2023
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