How are they trying to overcome these obstacles? Following Part 1, Chief Researcher Kenichiro Yamada, Design Lead Satoko Hinomizu, and Researcher Harriet Ocharo discuss their journey.
Co-Creating Across Professions and Nationalities
Harriet: What really made this project special was how each Team Uwezo member came from completely different backgrounds—that was our biggest advantage.
For example, Yamada has the know-how to create new businesses, especially deep knowledge about businesses addressing social issues. Hinomizu has particular strengths in considering touchpoints with end users within new business creation. I myself have AI-related technology and experience, as well as knowledge of Kenyan culture, markets, and social conditions, which I can leverage along with my work experience in Kenya before coming to Japan.
Harriet, who moved from Kenya to Japan and works as a researcher
Yamada: We have different affiliations, experiences, positions, and research themes, and each of us as individuals has clear strengths. However, since we're currently a minimal team of three, we haven't structured things so that roles are divided and assigned to whoever is best suited.
While I'm the team leader as the person who proposed the idea, discussions are always flat, with all three of us sharing our opinions. In Japanese organizations, people tend to worry about their team supervisor's opinion, but what's great about this team is that we can really say what we think.
Hinomizu: Even regarding design and UX areas where I have experience, it's not just me thinking about them—all three of us discuss them. To advance the project, it's not enough to just express diverse opinions; we need to properly align them and move in the same direction. I think this team's strength is that we can do that.
Harriet: That's right. I think we were able to gain many people's understanding and win the Gold Ticket in the Make a Difference! contest precisely because we successfully synthesized diverse perspectives. The ability to leverage each person's strengths while discussing and establishing direction has also proven effective in our post-award activities.
Hybrid Dialog in English and Japanese
Yamada: You know, while Harriet is from Kenya, her understanding of Japanese corporate culture is incredibly deep, and cultural differences have never really been an issue within our team. If anything, it's just the language barrier we navigate.
Harriet: Actually, Japanese is my "fourth language." Kenya is a multilingual country where languages vary significantly by region. I first learned my local language, then learned Swahili as the common language, and English for education and the workplace. I learned Japanese after coming to Japan. While everyday conversation isn't much of a problem, reading complex texts inevitably takes time.
However, I find Hitachi's Research & Development Group to be an incredibly welcoming environment, even for someone like me who didn't grow up in Japan. You get a lot of support from senior colleagues.
Hinomizu: Since Yamada and I can speak English, our conversations with Harriet are a Japanese-English hybrid. This allows us to communicate smoothly. Meanwhile, since English is the common language in Kenya's business scene, we can also communicate smoothly with Kenyan companies.
Hinomizu leverages her design experience in service design work
Harriet: From a corporate culture perspective, Kenyan companies are more direct than Japanese companies. For example, when requesting something, you need to clearly communicate specifically what you want done. If you want data provided, you need to properly convey details like what kind of data, how much, and the cost.
The Challenge in Africa's "White Space"
Yamada: When it comes to commercialization, our biggest challenge is that Africa is still largely a white space for Hitachi. We're essentially pioneers here, with very little business development infrastructure to rely on.
For example, regarding contracts, legal systems and customs are completely different from Japan. Even our internal support departments had no experience, so initially we didn't know what to do. We had to overcome obstacles one by one, such as how to handle protect and manage personal information and personal data while complying with local regulations.
Hinomizu: However, an even bigger problem than such procedures was that we had almost no channels for rolling out the business.
Yamada: Sales channels are extremely limited for our activities. We had to search for potential customers from scratch. However, after winning Make a Difference!, when we entered the incubation period toward business realization, a perfect opportunity came along. A "One Hitachi" event was held in South Africa.
This event showcases Hitachi Group activities to many companies and explores new business opportunities. Top executives from various companies across Africa gathered there. Our team participated in the event with cooperation from Hitachi's branch in South Africa, and we spoke with numerous business representatives.
Yamada's interaction with Kenyan startup companies sparked the project
Tangible Progress from Field Research
Yamada: What was fortunate was that we were able to create channels to directly interact with local top management at this event. Being able to exchange opinions directly with decision-makers, rather than working-level staff, significantly moved things forward.
Harriet: Being selected for the top prize in the Make a Difference! contest gave us a six-month incubation period to consider commercialization. During that time, I stayed in Kenya for six months to handle local market research. I contacted companies that might become customers and carried out in-depth interviews about users' perceptions of health issues.
I also spent time at the offices of related companies in Nairobi, thoroughly talking with employees. During those sessions, Yamada and Hinomizu in Japan also participated in the interviews through remote meetings.
Hinomizu: While we also made several field trips to meet with customers and run user interviews, having Harriet on the ground dramatically deepened our communication with Kenyan people.
Yamada: What amazed me was how well Harriet integrated into the local office. When I visited on a business trip, Harriet seemed as if she'd been a member of that office all along. For an external researcher to be accepted so naturally is truly remarkable.
Yamada says, "Without Harriet's participation, this project wouldn't have been possible"
Harriet: That office had many young members, so everyone had a very friendly atmosphere. Having worked as a consultant in Kenya for two years before coming to Japan, I was familiar with Kenyan office culture, which may have helped significantly.
Hinomizu: I think it's because you built those relationships that we were able to have deep conversations with everyone in limited time.
Kenya's Rapidly Growing Economy and People's Lives
Yamada: What truly amazed me during our Kenya field research was how cashless payments had taken over completely. The government's M-PESA mobile payment system is everywhere—literally everywhere we went, people were paying with their smartphones.
Hinomizu: Absolutely. During this trip, since it was a rare opportunity, I used the weekend to visit the town of Kisumu where I lived as a child for the first time in decades. It's about a ten-hour trip from Nairobi. Following Google Maps , I found the house where I lived. When I approached the area, I noticed major changes, such as a supermarket that sold everything that hadn't existed before.
On the other hand, the old market remained with almost the same atmosphere. But when Harriet tried to buy bananas there, even there, payment was via M-PESA. I was surprised at how deeply it had penetrated.
The Kenya field research yielded numerous discoveries
Yamada: We'd heard that mobile payment had spread ahead of Japan, and that was indeed true.
Hinomizu: Even in scenery that seems unchanged from thirty years ago, digital technology is gradually transforming life. I felt that things that meet people's needs are naturally accepted and become part of daily life.
Harriet: Actually, Kenya has changed dramatically even compared to ten years ago when I was living there. For example, in Nairobi, a highway to the airport was built, high-rise buildings keep going up in the city center, and the area called Westlands has many stylish restaurants where you can enjoy cuisine from around the world. Exploring new business by connecting Kenya and Japan has been an extremely exciting experience for me.
Solving Social Issues Through Business
Yamada: Our incubation period research confirmed strong demand for our solution in Kenya's rapidly developing society. Now, we're focused on bringing this to market and making a real difference in reducing lifestyle-related diseases across Africa.
To launch the business, we need a business unit or group company within the Hitachi Group to actually carry out the business, so we're looking for those willing to take the lead.
Hinomizu: We're meeting twice a week as a team to keep pushing this project forward. What really drives us is knowing this has huge social significance, so we're constantly exploring ways to boost its business value.
Harriet: I also think the challenge for this project lies more in whether it can be commercialized as a business than in technical aspects.
However, I believe this solution has great public significance in addressing lifestyle-related diseases. Therefore, I think there's potential to receive funding from public institutions like government agencies or funds for venture companies. We'd like to explore such paths to make this project a reality. While now isn't the time yet, in the future we hope to establish a website and recruit people who can advance the project together with us.
The three team members work toward project commercialization, each leveraging their unique strengths
Yamada: This is completely uncharted territory for us—there's no playbook, no existing roadmap. Every interaction with partners takes time, and we're literally building this from scratch, one challenge at a time. But you know what? There are no shortcuts to meaningful change.
And here's the thing: lifestyle-related diseases aren't just an African problem. This is a global challenge, and our business model can work anywhere similar conditions exist. Sure, launching something entirely new in a new market is tough, but once we succeed here, I'm confident we can scale this solution worldwide.
Profile
Note: Titles and affiliations are as of the time of the interview.
Kenichiro Yamada
Chief Researcher
Business Architecture Research Department,
Systems Innovation Center, Digital Innovation R&D,
Research & Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd.
After joining Hitachi, Kenichiro Yamada engaged in research and development across multiple domains by utilizing optical technologies. He has promoted co-creation activities with clients in retail, smart city, and other fields. He participated in an NPO-hosted social challenge exploration project, and during a visit to Kenya, dialog with local startup companies led him to examine possibilities for medical infrastructure business in the African region and launch this project.
Satoko Hinomizu
Design Lead
UX Design Department,
Design Center, Digital Innovation R&D,
Research & Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd.
After working as a graphic designer in Japan and Denmark, Satoko Hinomizu was dispatched as an Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Study Program for Upcoming Artists fellow and completed an MA in the Department of New Media at Aalto University. After working as a UX designer in Finland, she joined Hitachi. She promotes co-creation activities with domestic and international clients aimed at service creation in healthcare, public sectors, and other fields. Having spent her early childhood in Kenya, she became interested in and joined this project.
Harriet Ocharo
Researcher
Social Intelligence Research Department,
Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation Center,
Digital Innovation R&D, Research & Development Group,
Hitachi, Ltd.
After obtaining bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science in Kenya, Harriet came to Japan on a Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology scholarship and studied in a doctoral program at graduate school. She later joined Hitachi, where as an AI-related researcher, she uses AI to solve real-world challenges. She finds this project deeply meaningful and exciting because of its potential to have a positive impact on Kenya.
