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Design Thinking for Business

  • Innovation & Business Improvement
Next Intake: 27 Oct 2025 (Mon)
  • Intermediate
  • SkillsFuture
  • Short Courses
  • This module is part of Personal Leadership and Business Success Series
Next course starts on
27 Oct 2025 (Mon) See Full Schedule
Fee
SGD2,049.20* (as low as SGD238.76 after maximum funding) Learn More
Duration

2 days

Level
Intermediate

Who Should Attend

Business leaders who are responsible for driving business growth in their organisations.

Overview

Design Thinking for Business and Personal Growth

With the pandemic, businesses are under pressure to find cost-effective ways to improve. This 2-day module aims to help participants in uncovering new opportunities for growth, via Design Thinking.

Customer or user-centricity is at the core of Design Thinking, an approach that has been successfully used by companies to drive innovation and growth, solve problems and achieve early wins. Design Thinking offers a structured, step-by-step approach towards creatively attaining tangible outcomes that can offer positive benefits to the company.

Participants will acquire insights into how companies in various industries had been able to innovate and create new business opportunities through Design Thinking, and also be equipped with the skills to conduct live field research to uncover unmet needs (depending on social distancing regulations, these activities will be conducted either via Zoom or face-to-face).

The course involves not just theory, but plenty of hands-on opportunities to work with people on real business problems, starting with a Design Thinking team challenge and culminating in a live presentation to the businessperson who provided the team challenge.

 

Note: This module is formerly known as Personal Leadership and Business Success Series: Business Excellence. Content of the course remains. 

Learning Objectives

Participants will develop the ability to:

• Introduce Design Thinking as a way to achieve quick and effective solutions to business challenges in a structured manner

• Use Design Thinking as a driver of innovation to uncover new business opportunities for growth

• Apply the entire Design Thinking process to a real-world business challenge

• Conduct field research for Design Thinking purposes

 

Topic/Structure

Day 1 (Physical/ Face-to-Face Session)

- Design Thinking Basics

- Design Thinking Project

- Conducting Research

- Collating Insights

 

Day 2 (Physical/ Face-to-Face Session)

- Ideation Best Practices

- Basics of Prototyping

- Hands-On Prototyping

- Next Steps - Applying Design Thinking In Your Organization

Assessment

Participants have to meet a minimum attendance rate of 75% and have to complete all assessment(s) required by the course. Only upon meeting the minimum attendance and passing the assessment will participants be issued a Certificate of Completion.

Participants who fail the assessment will be given a chance for re-assessment at a fee of SGD100.00 (excluding prevailing GST). Each participant is allowed 1 re-assessment. The re-assessment has to be taken within 7 calendar days from the end of the course date. It will be held on a weekday specified by SMU Academy and conducted during office hours. Please note that re-assessment fees are not supported by SSG Funding.

Participants who meet the minimum attendance rate but do not achieve a pass for the assessment will be issued a Certificate of Participation.

Participants are required to bring their laptop to access the course materials, class exercises and individual assessment(s).

Calculate Programme Fee

Click here for more infomation about SkillsFuture Credits (Not applicable for Company-sponsored participants)
For PSEA - Available only for Singapore Citizen below 31 (Not applicable for Company-sponsored participants)

Total Program Fee: SGD0.00

Fee Table

COMPANY-SPONSORED

PARTICIPANT PROFILE

SELF-SPONSORED

SME

NON-SME

Singapore Citizen < 40 years old

Permanent Resident

LTVP+

$614.76

(After SSG Funding 70%)

$238.76

(After SSG Funding 70%
+ ETSS Funding 20%)

$614.76

(After SSG Funding 70%)

Singapore Citizen ≥ 40 years old

$238.76

(After SSG Funding 70%
+ MCES Funding 20%)

$238.76

(After SSG Funding 70%
+ ETSS Funding 20%)

$238.76

(After SSG Funding 70%
+ MCES Funding 20%)

International Participant

$2,049.20

(No Funding)

$2,049.20

(No Funding)

$2,049.20

(No Funding)

All prices include 9% GST

Please note that the programme fees are subject to change without prior notice.

Post Secondary Education Account (PSEA)
PSEA can be utilised for subsidised programmes eligible for SkillsFuture Credit support. Click here to find out more.

Self Sponsored

SkillsFuture Credit

Singapore Citizens aged 25 and above may use their SkillsFuture Credits to pay for the course fees. The credits may be used on top of existing course fee funding.

This is only applicable to self-sponsored participants. Application to utilise SkillsFuture Credits can be submitted when making payment for the course via the SMU Academy TMS Portal, and can only be made within 60 days of course start date.

Please click here for more information on the SkillsFuture Credit. For help in submitting an SFC claim, you may wish to refer to our step-by-step guide on claiming SkillsFuture Credits (Individual).

Workfare Skills Support Scheme

From 1 July 2023, the Workfare Skills Support (WSS) scheme has been enhanced. Please click here for more details.

Company Sponsored

Enhanced Training Support for SMEs (ETSS)

  • Organisation must be registered or incorporated in Singapore
  • Employment size of not more than 200 or with annual sales turnover of not more than $100 million
  • Trainees must be hired in accordance with the Employment Act and fully sponsored by their employers for the course
  • Trainees must be Singapore Citizens or Singapore Permanent Residents
  • Trainees must not be a full-time national serviceman
  • Trainees are eligible for ETSS funding only if their company's SME status is approved prior to the course commencement date. To verify your SME's status, please click here. 

Please click here for more information on ETSS.

Absentee Payroll

Companies who sponsor their employees for the course may apply for Absentee Payroll here. For more information, please refer to:

AP Guide (Non-SME Companies)
Declaration Guide (SME Companies)

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Trainers

MR JON HOEL
Managing Director
Innovator SG
MR JON HOEL
Managing Director
Innovator SG
Jon, Managing Director of Innovator SG, leads a consultancy aiding organisations in preparing for the future across Asian markets, ANZ, the US, and UAE since 2010. With a diverse background spanning financial services, technology, education, healthcare, and more, Jon facilitated Action Plan Singapore 2026, a national initiative informing Singapore's Committee for the Future Economy. His expertise includes innovation consultancy at POSSIBLE, strategy direction at TheFARM Digital, and roles in technology marketing with SAP and public relations with WPP agency Burson-Marsteller. Additionally, he serves as an investor and growth advisor to InVuite, an InsurTech startup optimizing processing time for a major Australian life insurer's underwriting process. His contributions extend across sectors, shaping strategies for future success.

Testimonials

The course was fun filled with loads of activities and a lot of takeaways. We were able to gain knowledge simply by engaging ourselves fully throughout the course without referring to the notes too much.
Koh Puay Ling
Assistant Manager
ITE Education Services
The course featured exactly what it boasted. Design thinking with a real live scenario example, where you can put everything you've learnt to the test. Appreciate guidance throughout. Thanks!
Alan Wan
Marketing Manager
Karl Storz Endoscopy Asia Marketing
Design Thinking is a fitting course for many professional situations & processes. Equally applicable for the Products & Services industry. The DT approach brings about clarity in complex situations where the data is limited. Would highly recommend it for any aspiring problem solver and solution enthusiast.
Katayan Fazalul Rahuman Riyas
Director, Product Management, BDC Asia
RATIONAL Cooking System

Additional Details

Programme Registration

Registrants are required to submit the following supporting documents via the registration system at the point of registration:

  1. Highest qualification certificate (scanned copy); and
  2. Updated Curriculum Vitae;
  3. Any other supporting documents e.g. company's recommendation letter, organisational chart

​

​Certified Professional Business Manager (CPBM)

This programme is part of Certified Professional Business Manager. Participants who successfully complete 6 courses/modules with a minimum of 15 training days, from a list of qualifying programmes (terms and conditions apply) within 5 years will receive the Certified Professional Business Manager (CPBM). For example:

Please click here for CPBM details and list of qualifying programmes.

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