d-school Afrika* at the University of Cape Town
Africa's home for design thinking
At the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika, we help people turn complex, real-world problems into human-centred solutions — and discover what they're capable of along the way.
Design thinking is a practical, human-centred way of solving problems: understanding the people at the heart of a challenge, framing the questions that matter, and testing ideas that actually work. It's a mindset as much as a method — and one anyone can learn.
As the only dedicated school of design thinking on the continent, we've spent a decade sharpening how people across Africa think, create, and lead. Our programmes span the full journey — from student programmes that open the door to design-led thinking, to professional programmes that equip working people and organisations to drive change from within.
Whoever you are, you'll leave with more than ideas: a creative, human-centred mindset, a practical toolkit you can use straight away, and the confidence to reframe, rethink, and resolve the challenges in front of you.
This is where curiosity becomes capability. Welcome to the d-school Afrika.
Hear what our Graduates have to say:
“I learned many key things during the programme, the most impactful being “a problem well defined is a problem half solved”. It was a lot of fun – like play school for adults!”
- Tumishang Selamulela | Delta Studio
“The Design Thinking programme has improved my public speaking and facilitation skills. I have utilised design thinking methodology to build teams and to bring people together on projects.”
- Calvin Mayanta | RLabs
“To identify and define problems, we tend to be guided by stringent methodologies requiring perseverance and discipline to ensure the validity of findings. We’ve found that using the collaborative and multi-disciplinary approaches recommended in the Design Thinking programme has led to more relevant and robust solutions to the defined problems. I truly enjoyed the challenging perspectives it introduced.”
- Mike Monson | Research
Hear what our Coaches have to say:
“South Africa’s youth unemployment (at ages 15-24) rate is currently sitting at 63%. I am passionate about working with young entrepreneurs, and taking them through the design- led thinking process, so they can come up with sustainable innovative solutions to create employment in the future. !”
- Tebogo Chaka
“Our innovative “Design Thinking through WhatsApp” workshop template - one of our 2020 lockdown experiments - speaks to the fact that we are Africa’s leading design-led thinking school. This was the most accessible and least resource-intensive digital workshop templates I’ve seen.”
- (cr. Luke & Mark) - Tiego Monareng
“I became a foundation student while completing my PhD and was one of only two Health Science students within the cohort. My team was multidisciplinary which was really great since I spent most of my academic career with individuals from a similar background to me. One of the highlights was that within the first 3 weeks of the programme we learnt about empathy in an immersive manner.”
- Zulfah Albertyn-Blanchard