Scribd
Upload
77 views5 pages

Assignment 1 Managing Innovation & Change

This document discusses an assignment for a course on Managing Innovation and Change. The assignment involves proposing an innovative loan product for VisionFund Zambia, a microfinance institution in Zambia. The proposed innovation is a loan product targeted at savings groups involved in village banking. This would help more community members qualify for loans and increase VisionFund's client and savings portfolio. The implementation process for innovations involves strategic direction, inspiration, ideation, proof of concept, piloting, roll out and production, measurement and feedback. A supportive workplace culture can facilitate successful implementation.

Uploaded by

Pelekelo Mulongwe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
77 views5 pages

Assignment 1 Managing Innovation & Change

This document discusses an assignment for a course on Managing Innovation and Change. The assignment involves proposing an innovative loan product for VisionFund Zambia, a microfinance institution in Zambia. The proposed innovation is a loan product targeted at savings groups involved in village banking. This would help more community members qualify for loans and increase VisionFund's client and savings portfolio. The implementation process for innovations involves strategic direction, inspiration, ideation, proof of concept, piloting, roll out and production, measurement and feedback. A supportive workplace culture can facilitate successful implementation.

Uploaded by

Pelekelo Mulongwe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

NAME: PELEKELO MULONGWE

COURSE: MANAGING INNOVATION AND CHANGE

LECTURER: DR. MAJA ZELIHIC

TASK: ASSIGNMENT 1
INTRODUCTION
The company that will be the subject of this essay is called VisionFund Zambia. It is a
microfinance institution that accepts deposits and is governed by the Central Bank of Zambia.
It focuses on rural areas and targets economically active, low-income entrepreneurs who are
turned away by traditional financial institutions, particularly in underserved rural areas. The
five main categories of products and services are microloans, savings plans, microinsurance,
training, and education (Visionfund, 2023).

INNOVATIVE INITIATIVE
Therefore, from the products and services offered by VisionFund Zambia, I would come up
with a loan product specific for savings groups that are involved in village banking.
Currently, the institution has digitized the cash box that savings groups use to save money in
order for groups to save in a safe and secure place as opposed to keeping cash in a physical
box that can be easily tempered with.
I have come up with this innovation because after interacting with a lot of clients in rural
areas, I discovered that most of them cannot qualify for the individual loan products offered
by VisionFund Zambia on their own but would be able to qualify as a group hence this would
help VisionFund to bring more clients on board as well as offer financial services to the
members of various communities which would make it a win-win for both parties.

IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS
The transition from the choice to adopt to the regular use of an innovation is made through
the implementation process. Because not all innovations that are adopted go on to be
implemented, the degree of implementation success is considered to be a stronger measure of
innovation quality than the degree of adoption success (Baporikar, 2017).
According to Livescault (2023), there are seven steps involved in the implementation
process:

Strategic direction
The first step must be, all employees comprehending the company's strategic vision before
they can transform their ideas into workable proposals. A company's creative activities can be
guided by an innovation strategy, which also offers appropriate constraints for creative
thinking. Promoting an innovative and supportive workplace culture also requires having an
innovation plan.
Inspiration
The next step for individuals working within the organization is to find inspiration for
cutting-edge products and services now that the company's strategic direction has been
established. Anyone in the company can experience inspiration at any time. Having a
supportive workplace culture aids in inspiration in a variety of ways, such as by promoting
knowledge sharing and the exchange of ideas.

Ideation
Stone tablets, chalkboards, whiteboards, and post-it notes – You need to take the necessary
steps to seize, nurture, and develop your best ideas, no matter how you come up with them.
Your employees need two things in order to do their best creative work: the appropriate tools
(including ideation software), as well as time and space to reflect. Employee ideation at a
company can significantly improve with an innovative working culture.

Proof of concept
Once you have a brilliant idea, you must develop it into a proof of concept, which is an
activity to validate a design premise or assumption. Here is where you need to involve the
appropriate individuals. For instance, employees in charge of sourcing materials, managing
production lines, marketing, and engineering may need to provide input when testing a new
product design. This procedure is greatly facilitated by a collaborative workplace atmosphere.
The ideas that arise from encouraging employees to participate in proofs of concept will draw
on a larger breadth of knowledge and feedback. The opposition that can arise from challenges
to the status quo can be overcome by innovators with the assistance of a supportive
workplace culture.

Pilot
You can proceed to the pilot phase if your proof of concept is accepted. Here, you're putting
the concept to the test in a constrained setting. In order to guide future innovation, data must
be gathered and analysed at every level of the implementation process, including the pilot
stage. Employees are more likely to learn from their past mistakes when their firm has an
innovative culture.
Roll out & production
If your pilot is a success, management and leadership might give the go-ahead for production
and distribution. A workplace culture that values innovation can aid in accelerating this
phase, as it can with all the others. This step may also require changing fundamental
corporate skills and capabilities to accommodate for this new product or service. It is not
merely a scaling issue.

Measurement & feedback


The essential takeaways from each stage of the innovation process should then be
communicated to employees in plain language. This aids in future implementation process
optimization. Building an innovative corporate culture makes it much simpler for employees
to participate in the measurement and feedback processes. Innovation leaders are urged to
openly acknowledge past shortcomings in order to prevent them in the future, rather than
avoiding the more difficult topics.

Benefits to the company


Because VisionFund Zambia is an impact-based institution, this new product will help to
increase its clientele base because each savings group has a minimum of 25 members. Hence
if fully adopted and successfully implemented, a lot of savings groups would be on boarded
to access the particular loan product. Additionally, this product will help to grow VisionFund
Zambia’s savings portfolio as all these groups will be required to start using the digital cash
box for their saving activities.
REFERENCES

Baporikar, N. (2017). Strategies for Successful Implementation of Innovation. International


Journal of Innovation in the Digital Economy.
Livescault, J. (2023, January 4). braineet.com. Retrieved from
https://www.braineet.com/blog/implementing-innovation
Visionfund. (2023, January 4). Retrieved from Visionfund Zambia:
https://www.visionfund.org/

You might also like