Everything began in a winter morning in the London Underground;
a morning like most of London's days; cloudy and gloomy;
a morning when the weather of my mind was cloudy and gloomy as well.
It was few days since the subject of my dissertation had been approved by the university under the title of
'Studying the role of design in the success of SMEs’.
And my academic supervisor, Brigitte (Borja de Mozota)
had suggested me to study some of the reference books on business
in order to get a better understanding of the entrepreneurship subject and the world of startups.
I had borrowed these books and they had been transferred
to my personal library. But I hadn’t even had a glimpse into them,
as it seemed to be an unexciting drudgery.
On that special day, in the London Underground's Metropolitan line,
as I was commuting from west London to the city,
at that special hour, the train's wagon was crowded.
(However, it wasn't as crowded as the initial hours of the day.)
And almost all the passengers were busy reading books,
newspapers, magazines or listening to music on their headphones.
So, unlike our common experience inside the Tehran Subway, it did not seem
common to sit down, while doing nothing and staring at people!
Consequently, I automatically reached my bag and took out
my pocket copy of 'Innovation and Entrepreneurship' book
by Mr. (Peter) Drucker and started turning pages uninterestedly.
I do not remember why I was going to the city that day.
But what's really important to me is, that day turned into
a significant day in my professional future.
What happened?
As I was turning the pages, gradually I started to feel that the text was quite simple and easy-to-catch.
And as I went on, I started to sense that the topic is quite familiar to me. I was facing a kind of 'déjà vu';
I had the feeling that I did know the content of the book from before.
I assume, we were approaching Wembley Station,
because we had not entered the tube yet,
when something extraordinary happened to me!
Suddenly, in a moment, all the clouds of my mind were
drifted apart and the sun started to shine. And I felt a strange
need to stand right in the middle of the wagon and like Archimedes -of course not naked like him!- shout: Eureka! Eureka!
What has happened?
The long list of entrepreneurial traits that (Peter) Drucker had explained in his book were very similar to the profession
that I had considered myself part of it for more than fifteen years;i.e., design.
Of course Mr. Drucker had never used the word 'design'.
But if one would replace the term 'entrepreneurship' with 'design' in his book,
the overall meaning would not been changed much.
Yes, in my imagination, I stood in the middle of the wagon and shouted Eureka! Eureka! I found it!
I had found the fraternal twin of my profession; entrepreneurship!
What I discovered in that winter day in the London Underground
was the existing relation and common ground between design and
entrepreneurship; the two professions whose overlaps overweigh their differences.
The entrepreneurial traits that Drucker had discussed,
were exactly similar to those we had learnt about a real designer;
some of which have been showed here in the slide.
I had discovered the overlap between entrepreneurship and design.
But why is this overlap with design important at all? What do I mean by 'design' in this particular case?
Yes, I know that when you hear the word 'design' or imagine
a 'designer', usually in your mind it is being associated with an artist
with an appearance different from his/her surroundings;
someone whose job is beautification of objects, environments, communications and services that we use.
Yes, no one can deny the aesthetic role of design!
The aesthetic aspect of design is undeniable.
However, what is really important is the fact that the definition
of design in today's world goes beyond mere beautification
and creating visual value.
And the definition that is widely accepted today in
the professional circles, is the one that presents it as
a creative solution finding process; finding new solutions
for wicked problems; or what Herbert Simon has well articulated:
"Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.”
What I had discovered was the link and relation between design and entrepreneurship which
of course had been there from the very beginning.
However, the reason that these two fields have fallen apart
this much is that they have been raised by two different mothers!
For example, in this very university (University of Tehran), entrepreneurship is being taught in the School of Management,
and design in the School of Fine Arts.
Thus, not only a considerable physical distance, but also an intellectual gap exists between these two fields.
And it seemed as if I was chosen to identify this overlap; my name had drawn out to realize this mission!
As a result of this finding, the topic of my dissertation altered into identification of this overlap,
understanding these fraternal twins and finding examples of their unity.
Of course, I have to emphasise on the fact that throughout
the history of design, especially during the last 100 years,
one can witness many designers who have found their non-identical twins.
But almost until the day I was in the London Underground,
just a few people had raised this issue or done scientific and practical researches on the subject.
For instance, let's look at James Dyson, an English designer
who came up with the idea of 'cyclonic separation' for vacuum cleaners during the 80s,
When he presented this idea to the dust bag technology
vacuum cleaner manufacturers of that time, all of them rejected it harshly.
He came back, himself manufactured this vacuum cleaner
and within the following decade all the major manufacturers
were gradually forced to move towards cyclonic technology.
What really happened here was 'creative destruction'.
This 'creative destruction' is the common ground between design and entrepreneurship.
This attribute was first defined by (Joseph) Schumpeter, the famous Austrian economist,
as the most dominant quality of entrepreneurs,
… My dissertation was welcomed very well by
the academic and professional audience and thus, led me to a new world.
Especially, it led me to the first International Education Conference on Design Thinking in Paris,
organized by Design Management Institute.
I had to develop a new and practical article for the conference based on my dissertation.
And since then I was no more restricted by the limitations of academic world,
I thought I might come up with a new name for designers who become entrepreneurs as well,
or those who find their professional fraternal twin.
So, simply by mixing the two words 'designer' and 'entrepreneur' together, I invented the term 'designpreneur';
that had never been used before.
Surprisingly my supervisor, Brigitte, warmly welcomed my created word
and in the last moments before sending the article for the conference, the word 'designpreneur' was added the article.
This way, in April 2008, I boarded another underground train,
this time with London to Paris route, in order to introduce
the common ground between entrepreneurship and design to my academic and professional audience.
I returned to Iran in late 2008 and soon came across
the first real chance to test my own entrepreneurial capabilities and acumen.
Through a common friend of us, I was introduced to a young man, a bright and gifted young entrepreneur.
This introduction later become the beginning of an online business formation;
an online business which today is known to a wide range of Iranian audience as 'bama.ir';
a reliable and up-to-date reference in the car trade market of Iran.
From the very beginning of our endeavour,
we decided to move forward based on a well-defined strategy;
a strategy in which design will be present in every slightest detail of the business.
That's why it took us almost a year to make the website ready for launch.
It was early February 2010. When the beta version of the website was presented,
many of the experts of this field were thinking that it will not succeed.
Why? Because unlike other Iranian online-business websites
who because of their dependence to paid ads,
had a gaudy and complex appearance, our website had used visual and verbal minimalism.
Why? Because our strategy for the website was to create a platform
for connecting sellers and buyers; meaning that there shouldn't
be any noticeable presence of the website itself in the interactions between sellers and buyers.
Thus, despite all the critiques and the numerous ups-and-downs
of the Iranian car market during the last few years, within a very
short time, 'bama.ir' made a growth leap and now is being considered
as one of just a few successful online businesses in the country.
… and while yesterday it was in the 43rd place in Alexa's ranking for Iran, today it has ascended to the 42nd place!
Well, what happened?
I assume it is obvious that we live in a digital world where the
digital revolution has lowered the barriers of entrance into the world of entrepreneurship.
That is why nowadays all over the world, including almost in every corner of Iran, different workshops and
weekend events are being held under the topic of ‘startup’;
to introduce the subject of entrepreneurship to different types of young experts.
Because this is a very unique opportunity not only for Iran, but all over the world.
And what is really interesting is the fact that this opportunity has also given designers a chance to be introduced to
the covert aspect of their expertise which is entrepreneurship and the result of this introduction has been the formation
of international successful businesses such as: Slideshare and Pinterest.
These businesses have been initiated by designers; designers who'd found their hidden entrepreneurial twin.
And it is interesting to mention that today if you Google the term that
I introduced for the first time in April 2008, you will get more than 6000 results.
So, it means that something is about to happen…
The ‘Bama’ experience proved me that ‘designpreneurship’ can happen in Iran as well!
Therefore, what is possible to be done is to introduce entrepreneurship to designers.
Indeed, I have done this myself in this very university; in the School of Fine Arts,
for undergraduate and post-graduate students. And the results were more than expected!
As I performing this talk, few of these students,
who are now my young colleagues, have turned into successful designpreneurs.
Undoubtedly we are living in a world where bravery and risks-taking is a requirement.
That is why entrepreneurship has become a pivotal subject.
And it is not so far-fetched that in the near future in this
very school (the School of Management) or the School of Fine Arts,
a major in design with a sub-major of entrepreneurship will be initiated.
I see that it will happen soon!
But in order to make it happen, so that we would all benefit from it, it is necessary that these two fields
that have been taken apart, to come out of the families
they were raised in and start discovering one another, get connected and finally join by fate.
In other words we need to start a matchmaking process!
So, right here, I make the most of this opportunity and
invite each of you to put your efforts on initiating this connection.
Or to put it another way, let's take a step forward to make a match between these two.
I am sure we will all get the fruits of it…
Thank you!