Since its inception in 1985, Oceanit has been deeply involved in community service, both at the local and international level.  On July 22, 2014, in partnership with Design Thinking Hawaii, and Inovi Group, Oceanit facilitated a Design Thinking Workshop, for representatives from various Hawaii-based nonprofit organizations.

By sharing the practices of Design Thinking, the workshop aimed to help participants employ a more entrepreneurial approach to solving problems, enabling them to find new ways to achieve their goals.

For today’s nonprofit organizations, this is exceedingly important.  The economic downturn of 2008 hit everyone hard, but it hit nonprofits even harder.  Within a span of months the strategies and tactics that many nonprofits had been using to sustain themselves were no longer tenable.

Oceanit’s Ian Kitajima notes, “Making Design Thinking available to professionals in the nonprofit sector is one way we can support our community.  ‘Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’  With Design Thinking, in 3 hours we can make a huge impact on our community.  By giving participants a method for ‘thinking outside the box’, they learn to break down barriers to creative thinking and devise innovative new ways to fulfill their missions.”

Following the workshop, Lisa Maruyama, President and CEO of Hawai’i Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations (HANO), said, “We’re extremely grateful to Oceanit, Inovi Group, and Design Thinking Hawaii for making this workshop available to nonprofit organization representatives.  So much of the work that we do in the nonprofit sector is service oriented and with an emphasis on quality.  As such, designing products and services the Design Thinking way, “with” the end user instead of “for” the end user, is critical.  The Design Thinking process can also instill a culture of creativity and innovation into an organization. I wish all nonprofits could have access to it!”

Oceanit offers Design Thinking Workshops throughout the state of Hawaii for government organizations, educators, and private sector businesses.  To inquire about scheduling a workshop for your organization, call us at:  (808) 531-3017.