When clothing designers become business people: a design centred training methodology for empowerment incubation

ABSTRACT

Artisan entrepreneurial clothing designers in emerging countries often rely on their indigenous knowledge when they apply technical design skills in their micro businesses. Many artisan entrepreneurs in townships fail to design sustainable businesses that reach alternative markets (beyond the borders of the township). Empowerment incubation hubs in emerging counties like South Africa, aim to enhance the business strategies and access of artisan micro business owners while improving technical design skills of the selected candidates. An important starting point is to create awareness of strategic planning during the design processes within the particular contexts of candidates in incubation programmes. The purpose of this paper is to describe a training methodology that was developed for a cohort of micro clothing business owner-designers in a South African township. A training methodology is recommended for empowerment incubators in townships in emerging contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Clothing design process
• business model canvas
• business building blocks
• empowerment incubation
• township

1. Introduction

Entrepreneurship is that is encouraged worldwide to grow domestic markets and create employment (Ketchen, Ireland, & Webb, 2014; Smallbone, Welter, & Ateljevic, 2014). In the context of emerging countries, Grant (2010) emphasises the importance of local economic development (LED) and he goes on to explain that this phenomenon is especially relevant in township economies. Townships in emerging countries foster informal business that apply resources such as economic and social capital to grow the businesses beyond the boundaries of the townships (Grant 2013; Lyons & Snoxell, 2005). In South Africa, empowerment incubators are supported by local governments in an attempt to stimulate LED through entrepreneurship in township economies (Ababio & Meyer, 2012; Masutha & Rogerson, 2014; Nxopo, 2014).

Empowerment incubation focuses on enhancing the competencies of candidates and these competencies usually include technical skills as well as business skills (Masutha & Rogerson, 2015). Clothing manufacturing and design skills (fashion entrepreneurship) are amongst the skill sets often found in informal township economies (Grant, 2013). Clothing manufacturing and design micro and small businesses require little startup capital and are some of the more feasible businesses in South African townships (Mahajan, 2014). Furthermore, clothing manufacturing and clothing design (fashion entrepreneurship) seem to be particularly popular under women in township areas (Grant, 2013). In this regard, incubators aim to provide a platform where business and technical skills of artisan entrepreneurs can be enhanced (Basu & Biswas, 2013).

Training programmes offered by incubation hubs usually aim to improve generic financial skills, marketing skills and business planning of entrepreneurs (Cho & Honorati, 2014). Nevertheless, the training programmes in empowerment incubation hubs also allow candidates to contribute to each other’s creativity and leverage the hub’s networks with formal economies so that access to market outside of the township is also acquired (Mahajan, 2014). This article reports on a case in the Diepsloot township area in Gauteng province (South Africa), where a local incubation hub aims to empower the Diepsloot community with training programmes in collaboration with a local university to stimulate entrepreneurship relating to clothing design.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a training methodology that was offered to a cohort of female clothing design micro business owners in a South African empowerment incubation hub. This paper starts with an overview of the design processes applicable to clothing design and illustrates the potential of training this process in an empowerment incubation context. The potential for business model design is discussed next, with reference to the business model canvas (BMC) developed by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010) and its applicability in enhancing design activities of candidates in empowerment incubators. The methods relating to the training programme are provided with the operationalisation of the training methodology in the methodology section. Finally, the findings of the project illustrate the most relevant aspects applicable to the specific training context with recommendation as to how this methodology can be leveraged for LED in townships.

2. Literature review

2.1. The design process as a tool to empower clothing design skills

In general, design (as a practice) is defined as a process where elements or components are combined into a cohesive whole, in a creative manner, to change an existing situation into a preferred one (Boztepe, 2007; Miller, Campbell, Littrell, & Travnicek, 2005). Rath, Bay, Petrizzi, and Gill (2008) state that design involves a great deal of preproduction planning before implementation (production) takes place. In this regard, the strategic nature of design is acknowledged.

The design process is a pivotal to clothing design practice (McKelvey & Munslow, 2011). Clothing design, (including fashion design), is ‘a process that utilises the design elements of line, colour, texture, pattern, silhouette, and shape to create a garment’ (Keiser & Garner, 2008, p. 238). A clothing design process typically includes the planning and production of products (Lamb & Kallal, 1992). Lawson (2006) points out that technical skills, in particular, are important during a clothing design process and that it would be hard for clothing designers to function without these skills. Other skills involve strategic thinking skills that relate to the designer’s ability to apply technical skills in a creative and strategic manner so that he/she can make decisions based on the lessons learned from experimenting with prototype development (Razzouk & Shute, 2012).

The following table summarises several design processes that have been applied to clothing design. The three common design activities of analysis, synthesis and evaluation are evident in all the processes as illustrated in Table 1.

Table 1. Comparison between different design processes that have been applied to clothing design (own compilation).

Common design activities	LaBat and Solowski (three stage design process for textile design (1999)	Engineering design process applied to apparel design (Regan, Kincade, & Sheldon, 1998)	Apparel design process of Lamb and Kallal (1992)	Universal design process of Aspelund (2010, p. i)
Analysis				1. Inspiration (motivation for the problem, trends analysis)
		1. Problem recognition (a) Problem statement (b) Creation of ideas (c) Solution generation	1. Identification of problem (functional, expressive and aesthetic dimensions of client needs)	2. Identification of the design problem (end-user needs and constraints; specific requirements)
	1. Problem definition and research	2. Problem definition (a) Objectives (b) Resources (c) Design boundaries (d) Sub-problem
Synthesis	2. Creative exploration and development	3. Exploration of problem (a) Information search (b) Assumptions (c) Design strategy (d) Market assessment (e) Objectives (f) Cost	2. Preliminary ideas (creativity: technical sketching, brainstorming, research, survey question-and-answer sessions)	3. Conceptualisation (brainstorming, presenting analogies, questioning, sketching)
		4. Search for alternatives (a) Experience (b) Answers (c) Requirements (d) Design proposal	3. Design refinement	4. Exploration of ideas (that might solve the problem)
		5. Evaluation and decisions (a) Outcomes (b) Feasibility (c) Evaluation
		6. Specification of solution (a) Analysis	4. Prototype development	5. Definition/ modelling
Evaluation		7. Communicate solution (a) Verbal (b) Visual (c) Approval	5. Evaluation (functional, expressive and aesthetic needs of apparel play a role	6. Communication

The processes in Table 1 suggest systematic thinking and application of technical skills. Lawson (2006), however, criticises the systematic linear design processes specifically with regard to fashion design because this author is of opinion that the fashion design process, in particular, is more imaginative than an engineering process.

Nevertheless the three phases’ analysis, synthesis and evaluation apply important design skills that might require iteration. Moreover, it is also important to note that the phases of the design process can facilitate several creative ideas through collective creativity (Tadmor, Statterstorm, Lang, & Polzer, 2012).

Brown (2009) refers to design as more than just an ability to create products, but a way to be innovative in one’s business. Buchanan (1998) highlights that inventing, judging, deciding and evaluating are natural design abilities of all human beings, however, natural ability is not sufficient to become operative, effective and innovative in design practice. He argues that natural design ability needs to be developed within four areas: (1) being symbolic and visual communication (communication), (2) material objects (construction), (3) activities and organised services (strategic planning) and (4) complex systems and environments for living, working, playing and learning (systemic integration). Designing to create clothing products is thus a very concrete way to define design and considering Buchanan’s (1998) view of being able to communicate, construct, being strategic and incorporating systematic integration, design should go beyond the creation of products and services.

In this paper, it is argued that design should not be seen as a process that design entrepreneurs can apply as individuals or in collective groups to their product/service creation as well as business decisions. This implies that there is an opportunity to incorporate training on communication with others construction of products and strategy to enhance the business sustainability. These abilities are all needed for eventual systemic integration when designing sustainable business models.

2.2. Training towards designing business models in empowerment incubator programmes

Business models are often misinterpreted as business strategy, but authors on this topic such as Seddon, Lewis, Freeman, and Shanks (2004) point out that although both these aspects involve strategy, they are not the same thing. Applying strategy to business model design evolved from several business theories and the concept ‘business model’ only became prominent towards the end of the 1990s (Osterwalder, Pigneur, & Tucci, 2005). Magretta (2002) defines a business model in terms of the value chain the business operates in and simplifies the definition by stating that a business model is a description of how the business runs.

Osterwalder et al. (2005, p. 3) added to the discourse on business models by defining a business model as ‘a conceptual tool containing a set of objects, concepts and their relationships with the objective to express the business logic of a specific firm’. These authors emphasise that there are relationships between concepts that allow the business to provide value to customers with particular financial consequences. In keeping with the mentioned authors, Teece (2010) later summarised a business model as the way in which the enterprise delivers value to customers and then inspires a customer to pay for the perceived value so that profit becomes an outcome. One can, therefore, derive that literature on business models seem to focus on describing the pillars and relationships that outline how a company creates and markets value in order to make a profit.

Designing a business model or in other words designing relationships between the pillars that support the customer value so that the business makes a profit, could prove to be challenging for new business owners especially those artisan entrepreneurs who tend to be more product/service focused as Branagan (2017) confirms. In an attempt to operationalise, the complex task of designing business models, Magretta (2002) considers two activities relating to business model design: (1) understanding activities that are associated with making the product (designing, manufacturing), (2) understanding activities associated with selling something (finding and reaching customers, transacting a sale, distributing the product or delivering the service). However, conceptualising the relationship between designing products/services and enhancing the business can be challenging if there is no understanding of the relationship between these aspects.

A tool to design a business model was developed by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010). These authors presented nine business building blocks with particular questions that promote an awareness and an understanding of what the building blocks in a BMC entails (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Business model canvas (BMC) (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010, p. 44).

The BMC allows business owners or managers to construct hypotheses about building blocks of the business and their relationships by answering the relevant questions associated with the building blocks.

The BMC is typically used when a lean startup methodology is applied. A lean startup methodology can be defined as a methodology that allows shorter product development cycles (Ries, 2011). The lean startup methodology articulates with design businesses because the design process and the lean startup methodology are processes that promote innovation (Müller & Thoring, 2012). The BMC reflects systematically on a business model, but allows a person to freely map each of its building blocks to real business scenarios with no specific condition to define all building blocks (Günzel & Holm, 2013). One could argue that in order to apply the lean startup methodology, the business owner needs to consider strategies for the business that incorporates resources other than financial capital (for example, social capital). The BMC offers awareness of these alternative possibilities.

For a business owner to implement strategy, he/she would probably first need awareness of the business building blocks as well as how these building blocks relate to the resources and the business environment. One can apply the questions relating to the key building blocks of a business to the key activities of the business (Günzel & Holm, 2013). In a clothing design business, it is argued that some of the key building blocks link to the key activities namely: designing (in the sense of planning), manufacturing and marketing (Burns, Mullet, & Bryant, 2016). This implies that an artisan entrepreneur such as an owner-designer of a clothing design micro business can adjust the BMC according to the activities that relate to their business and apply the relevant building blocks in an attempt to enhance strategic planning and eventually design a business model. Designing a business model can probably be equated to the systemic integration design activity that Buchanan (1998) refers to because systemic integration can be viewed as the process of bringing together several components into one system.

In this study, the awareness and identification of the relevant business building blocks within a township economic system provided a starting point for enhanced design skills or business strategy required to design business models that eventually direct improved strategy for sustainable businesses.

3. Research methodology

This study applied a case study research design and qualitative research style.

The case was a local incubation hub in an urban suburb in the Gauteng province in South Africa that aims to improve local businesses and collaborates with local universities to offer training and support to artisan entrepreneurs. This incubation hub offers training and support mainly to the local community in the Diepsloot township area.

A purposive sample of female participants was selected with the following criteria in mind:

• Participants had to be micro business owners who design the clothing products that they produce locally

• Participants had to have technical skills particularly with regard to constructing apparel products and using patterns (but no formal training in fashion design was required)

• Participants had to have a client base for whom the designer has designed or designs

• Participants had to be literate

• Participants had to be from the local Dieplsoot community

• Participants had to have flexibility in their time to attend the training programme at the local incubation hub

3.1. Research methods

Focus group discussions were conducted in this study to capture the participants’ opinions of their business needs as they relate to the nine building blocks of the BMC and their clothing design practice. De Vos, Strydom, Fouche, and Delport (2011) state that focus group discussions are appropriate when the researcher is interested in validating complex constructs from participants’ point of view. In this study, it was also an advantage that participants could inspire each other to share their views or indicate where they agree with other participants during focus group discussions. Every participant was encouraged to speak during focus group sessions.

Focus group discussions were recorded and the focus group facilitator (researcher) and (who took field notes) were present at all four focus group discussions. Verbatim from transcriptions of focus group discussions was interpreted with field notes to clarify context where necessary.

3.1.1. Research phase one: need analysis with a focus group session

The objective of the first research phase was to identify the needs that participants had relating to business sustainability. Twenty participants that each own their businesses were selected for the study and a focus group discussion was held prior to the training to determine the specific needs of the participants with regard to their potential business models.

3.1.2. Research phase two: reflection on participants’ design activities during focus group sessions

The objective of the second research phase was to create awareness of business model building blocks in order to enhance the design skills of the participants. The design phases (analysis, synthesis and evaluation) as derived from the literature were used as a foundation for the training programme and the relevant business model building blocks were integrated. The BMC was adapted for the participants as they relate to the various business building blocks considered during the design process (Table 2).

Table 2. Operationalisation of the training programme for the second research phase (own compilation).

Phases of design process derived from theory	Simple term used during training	Training activity relating to design process	Selected building blocks from BMC to facilitate business skills in particular design phases
Analysis	Explore	Client needs explored with a question sheet Internet explored for trends with a template Owner-designer’s own strengths and resources explored in a group project	Key partners Key activities Key resources Customer segments
Synthesis	Combine and adjust	Sketching with templates Costing with a costing sheet Acquiring/adjusting fabric and other raw material that can be used to create a look through putting unusual fabric combinations together and involving indigenous skills such as handwork Developing pattern with draping technique combined with flat pattern design Developing a unique selling proposition	Customer relationships Cost structure Value proposition
Evaluation	Communicate	Prototyping (evaluated by client and other participants in the group)	Channels Revenue streams

The training programme was offered to the participants over a period of 10 weeks. One formal training session was offered weekly for an entire day and application of the skills were required the rest of the week in the incubation hub under the guidance of a tutor. After 10 weeks the participants were interviewed in three focus group sessions on their insights particularly on how the building blocks of business models could be applicable to their design processes.

3.2. Quality of the data

The quality of the data in this study was maintained through credibility, transferability and dependability.

Credibility of the data was promoted through the application of research techniques suggested by Babbie and Mouton (2001). Prolonged engagement was one technique used to assure credibility (the researcher stayed in the field until data saturation occurred), as well as persistent observation (looking for multiple stimuli) and peer debriefing (with experts outside the context of the study). Another way to obtain credibility was through member checks during the focus group session when the facilitator checked that all members of the focus group had reached consensus about certain aspects.

Transferability relates to the extent to which data can be transferred to other similar situations (Babbie & Mouton, 2001). Data are reported in the context that they were collected, with contextual details about the case. Furthermore, transcriptions and field notes were considered to contextualise data.

Dependability pertains to the similarity of results that will be found if the research should be repeated with similar participants (Babbie & Mouton, 2001). A strategy to ensure dependability suggested by De Vos et al. (2011) is sufficient record-keeping (taking notes during focus group discussions, observation and informal discussions to clarify meaning). Transcriptions of all discussions, field notes and the evidence of the data analysis were kept for reflection and interpretation.

3.3. Ethical considerations

Permission to the researcher to enter the field was granted by the incubation hub as well as the participants who indicated in writing that they would like to participate in the study. The participants in this study were briefed about the purpose of the study in a session prior to the training. In this session, participants gave written consent to take part in the study. All the verbatim is reported without reference to participants’ identities. Participants were reminded that they could withdraw from the study at any point in time.

The project also received ethical clearance from a local university and the incubation hub in the Diesploot area that runs programmes for local startup businesses. Another crucial aspect that De Vos et al. (2011) point out is ethical considerations when the researcher is leaving the field. In this regard, the researcher and CEO of the incubation hub negotiated a way to keep supporting the participants after the training project was completed and participants who completed the training had a choice to enter a fully funded follow up programme as it was apparent that the hub offered a place where collective creativity of participants could be leveraged as well as the access to alternative markets.

4. Findings

In a first research phase, the specific needs of the clothing design entrepreneurs were identified and interpreted in order to refine the training programme.

4.1. Participants’ needs

It seemed that some relevant building blocks identified in the BMC could be incorporated into the design process and the following training model was offered in to address participants’ needs identified in the first research phase (Table 3).

Table 3. Participants’ need identified in first research phase (own compilation).

Identified theme relating to participants’ training needs	Most prominent verbatim of participants indicating the need	Relevant questions from BMC to probe strategy	Confirmed areas emerging from BMC building block that relates to participants’ needs
Urgency to earn while starting in the business	‘We cannot do the business plans for this place [incubation hub] because it takes all the time. Meanwhile this one [customer] wants this and this. It is money right there’ ‘We must make money to eat, no time to play’	What key activities do our value proposition require? What are the pricing tactics?	Key activities Revenue streams
A need to be more strategic and integrate the design process into a business system	‘When the client comes with an order, we start. We need that deposit for everything. Then we just make what they want and they pay the rest of the money in the end.’ ‘I struggle with that thing of how to be unique. It would help if my things are unique’	Which customer needs are we satisfying? Which customer problems are we helping to solve?	Value propositions
A need for more respect or power	‘I want the customer to see me as a designer, not a seamstress, they do not understand my skill, so they don’t pay’ ‘The customers think they can make the price but they do not know what the things cost. So they just want to pay what they want to pay’ ‘I know better than them what the product must look like or how we can do it, but they must learn to trust’	What are the most important costs? Which key resources are most expensive? How are customer relationships integrated with the rest of our business model?	Cost structure Customer relationships

From Table 3, it is evident that the need for more respect or power in the community may link to cost structures and customer relationships. This need for agency can link to strategy. Finally, it was evident how important it is to earn an income with the business from inception, hence a lean approach to design and business strategy was important in the training methodology (Table 4).

Table 4. Incorporating participants’ needs into the design process.

Design phase used to structure training^1	Training Activity relating to design	Relevant BMC building blocks	Relevant questions from BMC to probe awareness of building blocks
Explore (Analysis)	Client needs explored with a question sheet Internet explored for trends with a template Owner-designer’s own strengths and resources explored in a group project	Key activities	What key activities do our value proposition require?
Combine and Adjust (Synthesis)	Sketching with coquis Acquiring/adjusting fabric and other raw material that can be used to create an unusual product by putting unusual fabric combinations together and involving indigenous skills such as handwork Developing pattern with draping technique combined with flat pattern design	Value propositions Revenue streams	Which customer needs are we satisfying? Which customer problems are we helping to solve?
	Costing with a costing sheet	Cost structure	What are the pricing tactics? What are the most important costs? Which key resources are most expensive? Which key resources are most expensive?
Communicate (Evaluation)	Prototyping (evaluated by client and other participants in the group)	Customer relationships	How are customer relationships integrated with the rest of our business model?

Keeping in mind the participants’ needs, a design centred training model was operationalised as illustrated in.

In the second research phase, a focus group discussion on every fashion design phase was done to validate whether the adjusted BMC created awareness of business building blocks during the participants’ design processes. An awareness of the building could imply that the participants could be empowered to apply a more strategic design process that incorporates strategic business decisions as well.

4.2. Explore

In this training phase, the participants’ client needs were explored with a question sheet, the internet was use as a tool to explore the latest fashion trends, the participants were encouraged to reflect on their own strengths as designers and they were encouraged to consider these strengths as possible ways to create value (Table 5).

Table 5. Key strategies that facilitated awareness of business building blocks during exploratory phase.

Building block considered for business	Strategy	Evidence emanating from focus group discussions that confirms participant awareness of business building block
Key activities	Identify and implement the key activities to yield the value proposition	‘You [facilitator] opened my eyes with this internet. I go and see all the things there now and get more ideas to bring back to my designs.’
		‘I can now take orders because I can do what the customer wants, but this time I can sketch it before we start. People like that they can see what they will get and I feel better about my sketches when I explain what the design will look like.’
		‘I buy fabric with the client then they get to choose what they want. I will remember to add the cost of traveling to the shop as well because it is my time.’
Revenue streams	Costing	‘I like this costing sheet because I can show it to the client. They can now understand where the price come[s] from.’
		‘We tell them [clients] now exactly how much they must pay when. The deposit will cover the costs and we don’t deliver [the final garment] until the design is paid in full. Yes, pay on delivery or nothing!’
	Extra income	‘I leaned that I can make the clothes simple and design nice things to add on. I make these [pointing to accessories made from scrap fabric] from scraps, so it brings in extra income.’

From the above table, it is apparent that participants started to think of their designs not only as possible products, but also as a means to create value for their clients in and beyond their community as they ‘bring back’ the ideas to their designs. The exploratory phase also incorporated the internet and a participant explains how this ‘opened her eyes’. In the context of the community where participants usually accumulated ideas only from each other, this is an indicator that participants were inspired to use the internet as a tool to go beyond the boundaries of the township to enhance their initial ideas. The argument is made that it can enhance cultural value as designs still reflect indigenous knowledge, but in a different way than before. It can, therefore, be derived that exploration was also applied as a design strategy in order to enhance the business value proposition (a business building block).

4.3. Adjust and combine

In the second design phase, participants were facilitated to use templates to sketch initial design concepts. They were also trained to apply several surface design techniques on fabric in order to create unusual fabrics when combined with their handwork skills. Participants then used plastic bags (low cost) to test and refine their patterns and were coached some pricing techniques (Table 6).

Table 6. Key strategies that facilitated awareness of business building blocks during Adjust and Combine phase.

Building block considered for business	Strategy	Evidence emanating from focus group discussions that confirms participant awareness of business building block
Value propositions	Satisfy customer needs with unique garments that has handwork	‘I realized that I have to be unique in everything I do.’
		‘I must provide something that will make me stand out people like to look different … ’
		‘I make what they want and you can’t buy this in a store because I put this handwork, you know … ’ ‘They [other participants] help me to do the handwork and I also help with their handwork. We help each other.’
	Provide value to different customer segments	‘Maybe I can also sell it [pointing to a dress that was made] here at this place for [the incubation hub’s store for international customers] the tourists … ’
	Solve specific customer problems	‘Now, I think of myself as a designer. My job is not just to make things like clothes, but to also help the customer.’
	‘I like that my [designed] clothes will fit better … ’
	‘I use the internet now to make sure what is the latest fashion … people [customers] like the fashion … ’

From the above table, it is apparent that participants saw ways to add value to their existing markets (unique bespoke wear with handwork), but in addition saw a way to access new markets by leveraging the incubation hub space to market their products to tourists that visit. The participants also seem to have realised that they are ‘designers’ and this is an important aspect to earn more respect in the community. Awareness of strategies like adding value by positioning oneself as a problem solver (designer) and incorporating indigenous knowledge like beading is important for creating sustainable business models.

The design process stimulated further business strategies to incorporate collective creativity to add handwork to some garments by using social capital (others participants that helped with garment embellishment or construction). One can derive that participants started to view design as inseparable from the business decisions they had to make and leveraged their social capital in the incubation hub. This phenomenon is in keeping with the findings of Lyons and Snoxell (2005) who emphasise that social capital is a pivotal factor for entrepreneurship in township economies and therefore viewed as important to incorporate in empowerment platforms.

4.4. Communicate

This research phase entailed that participants needed to evaluate their prototypes by trying to communicate to their clients and others in the training group what their vision was and get feedback on how the client viewed the prototype. This communication particularly seemed to have influenced the participants’ relationship with their customers and each other (Table 7).

Table 7. Key strategies that facilitated awareness of business building blocks during communication phase.

Building block considered for business	Strategy	Evidence emanating from focus group discussions that confirms participant awareness of business building block
Customer relationship	Building trust with customers through communication tools	When we first try the design on the plastic bag and fit it on the client, they can say what they think now and they don’t come with that story of: ‘I don’t like this’ when it is already finished.’
		‘The dress we test first they [customer] can see and they can see I made the design that I first sketched, they can say what they like or what must change … ’
		‘Because I can design now, they [customers] will come back to me. I give them what they want and even more.’
		‘I can do the costing and then see how much I can charge [determine price]. Now the customer cannot try to drop the price. I can show her why it is like this.’
		‘We can decide the price before we start to see if it is worth doing’
Social capital	Building trust with others in the hub as well as with the hub	‘We help each other, we talk about different ideas and the people in this place [Hub] help[s] us to sell the designs’

From the above findings, one can derive that communication plays an integral part not only in a design process but also in a business, because it allowed the participants to build trust relationships with their customers and with the other candidates in the hub. Good customer relationships are crucial for business sustainability (Bocken, Rana, & Short, 2015). Building good customer relationships is, therefore, a critical building block in a business model in this particular context (fashion designers who custom-make clothing for their customers).

It is also evident that participants use communication to gain clarity and flow of implementation when they communicate with clients and other designers about the specific end-use of the products. This indicates strategy and an enhanced awareness of competence amongst participants; resulting in trust. It seems that this strategy might add to symbolic ‘capital’ that can be viewed as one’s power in a system (Wagner & McLaughlin, 2015), as it can be empowering to be viewed as trustworthy.

In addition, it seems that participants realised how they can use the hub to help them ‘sell their designs’, indicating that the hub carries symbolic capital as it allows access to resources and opportunities (for example, other markets and a working space where participants can collaborate).

5. Conclusions

The design process that was applied in this study, proved to be an applicable tool to guide the training methodology that was developed for a particular township context. The design phases: explore, adjust and combine as well as communicate proved to be relevant to the specific group and might be considered for training programmes for novice designers as it offered a pragmatic way to train complex problem-solving skills and allows collective creativity.

This project aimed to create awareness of the building blocks needed to design a business model in a design centred training methodology and therefore does not claim to have enabled the participants to design a business model yet. For this reason, it is a limitation and repeating the training methodology with a third phase that involves higher levels of business design thinking and more advanced technical design skills is recommended to facilitate business model design.

Participants showed consideration of the building blocks important for eventual business model design during their design processes. The BMC seemed to offer an operational way to support owner-designers ability to strategise in term of their businesses. The training methodology seems to be suitable for integration of design skills when business models are designed within environments such as an incubation hub where collective creativity can be leveraged through social capital. In terms of other alternative forms of capital, Wagner and McLaughlin (2015) refer to the work of Pierre Bourdieu (1984) on habitus, and confirm that, symbolic capital is empowering in any cultural system where people make sense of their context. In the context of the study, participants realised that viewing themselves as designers enables them to justify higher garment prices. This seemed to be empowering.

It is important to note that this study was conducted in a specific township context and that the incubation hub that hosted the empowerment incubation programme did so in a communal studio space that allowed collective creativity as referred to by Hargadon and Bechky (2006). In this regard, the reflective reframing of candidates was evident in the communication phase and the social capital of participants enhanced the awareness of the design purpose as well as business strategy. Symbolic capital seemed to result from the participants’ association with the hub and therefore seemed particularly empowering for the participants in this township. It seemed that participants in this study were able to discover agency when they operate in the incubation hub. It is, therefore, recommended that the proposed methodology should be applied within an incubation hub space that can be rented later by the candidates in the hub as economic capital grows.

This paper is ended with a participant’s statement that illustrates how the training methodology applied in a life-giving context like an incubation hub can facilitate agency to enhance business strategy:

At first I thought of myself as a seamstress. I can say now with confidence, that I am a designer and also a business person … if you understand how to design, you can also make decisions to fit your business, every day, in everything you do.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The simplified terms equated to the phases of the design process were selected when peer debriefing was done with a prominent local social entrepreneur who had shared his: ‘Explore, prepare, communicate’ model.