MORE WOMEN IN BUSINESS
A participatory approach to empower
women entrepreneurs
By

Nikoo Farvardin
Supervisor: Jonathan Aitken

A CRITICAL AND PROCESS DOCUMENTATION PAPER
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF DESIGN

EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART + DESIGN

© Nikoo Farvardin, 2021

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ABSTRACT

It is no exaggeration to say that we are living in an era of emerging startups. However, although
women's presence in business has become more prominent, they still experience systemic
discrimination in such areas as access to resources or capital. Statistics demonstrate that only
16% of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises are owned by women (Grekou, Li, & Liu,
2018). Moreover, women often encounter more obstacles in starting and running businesses
compared to their male peers (Guzman & Kacperczyk, 2019). One way of closing this gap is
empowering women entrepreneurs and offering them solutions specifically catered to their
needs.
This project is a design-led investigation into empowering women entrepreneurs in Canada
using participatory design methodologies to identify their major problems in order to generate
appropriate solutions. The research explores the following questions: What are the main
difficulties for women entrepreneurs before and after launching their businesses? How can
women entrepreneurs be empowered to effectively tackle the underlying problems and
continue their businesses with fewer obstacles?
In this regard, this research went through needs-finding phases, including resource analysis
(articles, interviews, online platforms, podcasts, forums, etc.), deep interviews, and co-creation
workshops with generative activities. During the participatory activities, a broad spectrum of
people who can be affected by design solutions —women business owners, investors, and
mentors— were engaged in order to generate insights on women entrepreneurs’ activities,
challenges, and achievements.
This project demonstrated that even though women encounter different obstacles due to a
variety of factors, accessing mentorship and connection to the right community is a frequent
request among women. This can have an enormous impact on the success of their ventures.
Furthermore, the investigation revealed that, by and large, entrepreneurs struggle with finding
available resources or have no idea what already exists — which consequently imposes
financial and time costs.
To discuss the identified needs and offer feasible solutions, ideation sessions were organized
with creative thinkers, entrepreneurs, and mentors. Reaching out to the target group for this
research was challenging, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring a tailored
strategic approach fitting the new situation.

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The research uncovered two potential opportunities. First, a space for women entrepreneurs to
connect with other entrepreneurs, share their experiences and ask and answer questions. And
second, a space to refer to and share entrepreneurship resources. In this regard, an interactive
and collaborative platform is offered to facilitate communications between entrepreneurs
along with a library of entrepreneurship resources accessible to beginners and experienced
entrepreneurs alike.

Keywords:
women empowerment, entrepreneurship, gender parity, participatory design, businesswomen,
business, gender

III

Acknowledgments

This work would not exist without the generous help of all
the wonderful entrepreneurs and mentors who
participated in different stages of my project.
I owe the greatest gratitude to my supervisor Jonathan
Aitken, who has been both a great source of ideas and
inspiration, and a dedicated and balanced critic of my
work.
I would also like to thank Garnet Hertz, who provided me
with unfailing support during the final stages of this
project.
In addition, I would like to thank Anh (April) Nguyen,
Binoodha Kunnath, and Thejus Kayanadath who provided
me with support and friendship in the often lonely journey
towards the completion of this work.

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Table of contents

01. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Women entrepreneurs definition ........................................................................................................................2
1.2 Project objectives ................................................................................................................................................3
1.3 Research rationale ...............................................................................................................................................4
1.4 Research framing ................................................................................................................................................6

02. Secondary research .......................................................................................................................................... 7
A review of women entrepreneurs’ challenges in Canada based on the WESK report (2018) ..................................8

03. Primary Research ........................................................................................................................................... 11
3.1 Online conversation analysis .............................................................................................................................12
3.2 Methodology .....................................................................................................................................................14
3.3 Deep interviews .................................................................................................................................................16
3.3.1 General overview .......................................................................................................................................16
3.3.2 Challenging process of interview; Engagement and strategic approach ...................................................18
3.3.3 A short report on interviews ......................................................................................................................22
3.3.4 Main Insights ..............................................................................................................................................23
3.3.4.1 Mentorship and community ...............................................................................................................25
3.3.4.2 Easy access to available resources .....................................................................................................25
3.4 Personas ............................................................................................................................................................27

04. Design Explorations ....................................................................................................................................... 30
4.1 Journey map ......................................................................................................................................................31
4.2 Ideation session .................................................................................................................................................35
4.2.1 Insights and outcomes ...............................................................................................................................36

05. Design Outcomes ........................................................................................................................................... 40
5.1 Foojan ................................................................................................................................................................41
5.2 User testing and feedback .................................................................................................................................42
5.2.1 Insights .......................................................................................................................................................42
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06. Final Mockups ................................................................................................................................................ 45
6.1 System Map .......................................................................................................................................................46
6.2 Site map.............................................................................................................................................................47
6.3 Brand identity ....................................................................................................................................................48
6.3.1 Mood board and color palette ...................................................................................................................48
6.3.2 Logo design ................................................................................................................................................49
6.4 Sketches .............................................................................................................................................................52
6.5 Wireframes ........................................................................................................................................................53
6.5 Foojan prototype screens ..................................................................................................................................54

07. Conclusion and Future Directions .................................................................................................................. 63
08. Citations......................................................................................................................................................... 66
09. Appendix........................................................................................................................................................ 70

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Table of figures

Figure 1. The meaning of gender in my research
2
Figure 2. A review on women entrepreneurs’ challenges in Canada based on WESK report prepared by
PWC
10
Figure 3. Forums conversation analysis
13
Figure 4. User engagement in different phases of the design process
14
Figure 5. My design research overlaid on Sanders’s map of design research
15
Figure 6. Planning for co-creation sessions and deep interviews
18
Figure 7. Generative toolkit
19
Figure 8. The first collaborative activity designed on Miro
20
Figure 9. A revised version of collaborative activity on Miro
21
Figure 10. Cart sorting activity as a generative tool was employed during deep interview sessions
23
Figure 11. Discussed challenges from interviews were mapped based on the level of difficulty
24
Figure 12. Persona
28
Figure 13. Persona
29
Figure 14. User journey map
32
Figure 15. User journey map
33
Figure 16. User journey map
34
Figure 17. User journey map
34
Figure 18. Miro was used as a platform for collaboration during ideation sessions
35
Figure 19. Brainstorming session with my design peers at Emily Carr
36
Figure 20. Ideation sessions’ outcome. User fellow
38
Figure 21. Learning and mentorship through action
38
Figure 22. Ideation sessions’ outcome. User fellow
38
Figure 23. Ideation sessions’ outcome
39
Figure 24. Ideation sessions’ outcome
39
Figure 25. Reflection on and evaluation of the solutions
41
Figure 26. Evaluating the final idea by entrepreneurs and mentors
42
Figure 27. Evaluating the final idea by entrepreneurs and mentors
43
Figure 28. Evaluating the final idea by entrepreneurs and mentors
44
Figure 29. System map of Foojan
46
Figure 30. Site map
47
Figure 31. Mood board and color palette
48
Figure 32. Logo design
49
Figure 33. Logo design
50
Figure 34. Figure 34. Wire framing-sketches
52
Figure 35. Interactive prototype of platform
53
Figure 36. The main page of the Library
56
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Figure 37. Library's search result page
Figure 38. The main page of community
Figure 39. Personal library and My account page
Figure 40. Following and followers pages, Member's profile to view, and the message page
Figure 41. Share experience
Figure 42. Settings.
Figure 43. Research ethics approval.
Figure 44. Visualizing the important results of interview # 1 & 2
Figure 45. Visualizing the important results of interview # 3 & 4
Figure 46. Visualizing the important results of interview # 5 & 6
Figure 47. Visualizing the important results of interview # 7 & 8
Figure 48. Mind mapping after user interview and secondary research
Figure 49. Landing page
Figure 50. Interactive Library resources’ map
Figure 51. List of available resources after applying filters
Figure 52. User can see who share the resources on Library
Figure 53. Users can make a personal Library for themselves
Figure 54. Community main page
Figure 55. Writing a post
Figure 56. User can check the profile of contributors
Figure 57. Profile page

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VIII

01. Introduction

1.1 The definition of women entrepreneurs

First, it is necessary to clarify what is considered to be a “woman entrepreneur” for the
purposes of this project. In this research, a woman entrepreneur is understood to include any
woman who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business. Here, the word
“woman” is interpreted as anyone who self-defines as “woman” in terms of gender: cis women,
trans women, and other women.
Based on the Oxford dictionary definition, "entrepreneur" is any person who undertakes to
supply a good or service to the market for profit. An entrepreneur will usually invest capital in
the business and take on the risks associated with the investment. Social change can be another
aim of the development of services and products. Consequently, entrepreneurship is a process
in which all levels of societies — regions, organizations, and individuals — are involved in
identifying and exploiting opportunities leading to wealth creation or social change (WEKH,
2020).

Figure 1. The meaning of gender in my research based on Helene Ahl article (2006).

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1.2 Project objectives

o Identify the main challenges for women
entrepreneurs in Canada to start and/or
continue their businesses by including them in
the pre-design phase

o Provide solutions that empower women
entrepreneurs to effectively tackle the
underlying problems and continue their
businesses with fewer obstacles

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1.3 Research rationale

I have always been interested in designing for gender parity in business, which stems from my
personal experience as an entrepreneur, being a curious observer, and connections with other
women. Establishing close relationships with people (men and women) who play different roles
in business helped me analyze various factors that women encountered in launching a
business.
This research examines the barriers women business owners in Canada face and considers how
women could be better empowered. In Canada, both the private and public sectors have been
actively involved in building a stronger entrepreneurship ecosystem. Government programs
and policies have positively impacted entrepreneurship over the last two decades. Additionally,
a substantial number of community and support organizations have been actively helping
entrepreneurs to start and expand their businesses. Based on the Women Entrepreneurship
Knowledge Hub (WEKH) report (2020), more than 2,550 organizations play a role in developing
businesses and supporting entrepreneurs in Canada.
Women in Canada benefit from financial support, mentorship programs, communities, training,
and development programs. An example of governmental programs advancing women's
economic empowerment is Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) which is seeking to
double the number of women-owned businesses by 2025 by investing nearly $5-billion in
women-owned ventures.
It is no exaggeration to say that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the heart of the
economy in Canada as they represent 99.8 percent of all businesses (ISED, 2019). Moreover,
SMEs play an essential role in employing Canadians across the country as they employed 89.6
percent (10.67 million) of the private sector workforce. Unfortunately, the number of womenowned SMEs represented 15.6 percent of all SMEs in 2017 (ISED, 2020).
Even though from 2011 to 2017, women's self-employment grew by 10.6 percent compared to
5.4 percent for the overall self-employed population (Statistics Canada, 2018), the number is
still low compared to men. Only 16% of Canadian businesses are owned or led by women (GEM,
2019). Despite the efforts across small and larger organizations to support women's
entrepreneurship, there still exists considerable fragmentation and a gender gap in business
(WEKH, 2020).
While organizations supporting entrepreneurs in Canada have made important strides over the
last years, women are currently under-represented in the majority of these programs due to
gendered barriers at every step in the process—in entrepreneurship training programs,
incubators, and development programs (PWC, 2018).
Enhancing the performance of women-owned enterprises and encouraging women’s business
ownership would promote gender equality in leadership, financial empowerment of women,
4

and economic expansion. In a report, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), shows that by taking
steps to tackle this issue, Canada can add $150 billion in incremental GDP by 2026 (Devillard et
al., 2019).
In addition to the impact of women's empowerment on a prosperous economy, it leads us a
few steps closer to gender parity, women's self-sufficiency, and social development.
Since more women than men see entrepreneurship as a positive career (3.3 times greater, GEM
Women’s Entrepreneurship Report, 2019), a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem is
needed which provides people with equal opportunities to prosper and thrive. It means
providing women with answers catered to their needs and gender-specific supports.

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1.4 Research framing

This research explores the following questions:
1.

What are the main difficulties for women
entrepreneurs before and/or after launching their
businesses?

2.

How can women entrepreneurs be empowered to
tackle the underlying problems and continue their
businesses with fewer obstacles?

The research for this project is based on data collected from different resources such as
podcasts, reports, interviews, forums, and primary resources such as semi-structured deepinterviews with stakeholders of this project (women entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors). I
started by focusing on identifying the major challenges women entrepreneurs may face.
Different stakeholders shared their individual experiences of starting and growing businesses,
mentoring entrepreneurs, investing in startups, coping with challenges, and finding solutions. I
benefited from using a generative toolkit to provide a structure for dialogue between myself
and the participants.
The qualitative data from these sessions helped me build a better understanding of
entrepreneurial activities in Canada and common challenges among women entrepreneurs. It
included highly personal and extraordinary experiences that are seldom discussed. I also
interviewed men and women mentors and investors. Since they are in touch with great
numbers of entrepreneurs and know the ecosystem well, they offered a holistic view with
insights on women's entrepreneurial activities, their challenges, and even possible solutions to
the issue.
In the next phase, I organized Ideation sessions (online and in-person) with two groups of four
creative designers as well as two entrepreneurs and two mentors. I took advantage of Miro –
an online collaborative space – to conduct and manage online ideation sessions. Based on the
result of the sessions, I have developed a platform for women entrepreneurs to address
mentorship needs and access other resources. The idea was tested and critiqued by women
entrepreneurs and mentors as the primary stakeholders of the project.

6

02. Secondary research

7

A review of women entrepreneurs’
challenges in Canada based on the WESK
report (2018)

At the beginning of this project, I went through different resources to gain a better
understanding of the status of women entrepreneurship in Canada. I took advantage of articles
and reports prepared by individuals and reliable organizations as Global Entrepreneurship
Monitor (GEM), BMO Financial Group, Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, Innovation,
Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), OECD, and McKinsey Global Institute.
Even though all these reports and articles were extremely helpful to shape a vivid image of
women entrepreneurship in Canada, I found PWC’s report to be the most precise and
comprehensive. It is a short report prepared for WESK (Women Entrepreneurs Saskatchewan)
on women entrepreneurship in Canada, barriers faced by them, and includes relevant case
studies. In addition, it discusses potential policy measures that may be effective to meet
women’s challenges. In the following, four major difficulties for women business owners will be
discussed.
The report considers limited access to financing, lack of networks, lack of training and
mentorship, and work-life balance as the major barriers on the path of women entrepreneurs
in Canada. Regarding financing, the report shows that there are different factors involved in
shaping this challenge. For instance, as a result of lending discrimination, women usually need
to provide lenders with more documentation to guarantee that they are able to pay back their
loans (Jung, 2010). On top of that, the unequal distribution of economic resources across
gender leads to lower income for women. Moreover, women mostly prefer internal financial
resources such as their own savings to start and continue a business. Consequently, they have
less money to invest in their businesses. Moreover, considering venture capital firms as a key
recourse of needed capital for aggressive growth, entering the venture market is more
challenging for women entrepreneurs. The primary reason mentioned in this report is that
there are too few women in venture capital firms and the result is a biased perspective on
women’s capabilities to grow a high-tech company.
Alongside capital, networks emerge as the most important driver for women’s entrepreneurial
success. They help women build their reputation and create new channels to access funding. By
and large, many investors make their investment decisions based on the information provided
by their network. Unfortunately, women are often not welcomed to established networks,
incubators, and accelerators. It results in reduced opportunities for promoting their business
and obtaining funding (WESK, 2018).
Lack of access to mentorship and business training is another barrier that stops women from
scaling their ventures. Based on the report, 27% of women who participated in mentoring
programs reported easy access to funding compared to 19% of women entrepreneurs overall.
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Generally, nearly half of women entrepreneurs state that a challenge facing their business is
the lack of available mentors. (Fetsch, Jackson, & Wiens, 2015). However, women are less likely
to have access to training and mentorship programs that are adjusted to their needs. The
report suggests customized support programs for businesswomen in Canada as a valuable way
of assisting women to start their businesses and pursue growth strategies.
The last major challenge for Canadian women business owners based on the PWC report is
work-life balance. Women, in general, may experience additional hurdles to maintain the
balance between work and life. They mostly tend to start their entrepreneurial journeys at 2544 years of age. On the other hand, almost three-quarters of births are delivered by women in
their 20’s. As a result, women face more difficulties based on parenthood responsibilities
causing a lower rate of entrepreneurial participation. Solutions offered for this issue are
affordable childcare and a better parental leave policy.

9

Figure 2. A review on women entrepreneurs’ challenges in Canada based on WESK report prepared by PWC.

03. Primary Research

3.1 Online conversation analysis

Online conversation analysis puts forward an opportunity for providing insights from
entrepreneurs’ stories, needs, and concerns. Making use of online resources that reveal the
thoughts of stakeholders of this project, such as interviews, podcasts, forums, virtual events,
social media posts, etc. was an introduction to the world of entrepreneurs in Canada and to a
better understanding of what they are saying and thinking about. It helped me to evaluate the
status quo and deepen my understanding of what entrepreneurs are looking for and what they
most need.
This analysis of online sources provided a useful background for the in-person interviews. Even
though I was aware of the challenge of making assumptions before talking to my target
audience, I benefited from this data to better design interview materials and advance the
conversation with participants. Moreover, it was immensely helpful in creating a stronger sense
of empathy prior to our meeting. I found many similarities between my own entrepreneurial
experience in Iran and that of Canadian women.
First, I searched for business forums that are being used by Canadian entrepreneurs. These
platforms are developed to be used by people from all over the world but are utilized by
Canadians as well. I checked the questions, answers, and how they communicate with each
other. I was not only looking for women entrepreneurs but also men for comparison and to
identify differences. Examples included Startup Nation; a platform to learn about different
topics, Biz Warriors; a place to get information and chat, Reddit and Quora; to ask questions
and get answers, The Fast Lane forum; a forum to share experience, Clarity; to chat with
experts and ask questions.
By analyzing online conversations, I figured out that challenges for men and women are mostly
similar. They usually tend to ask the same questions. In addition, based on the industry that
they are active in, their backgrounds, and their experiences, both may face different challenges
and look for different solutions. As a result, it was difficult to identify unique challenges for
women entrepreneurs based on analyzing forums’ conversations. In general, they are more
likely to look for education or advice. It may be relevant to the nature of forums where they are
places to ask questions and consult.
Podcasts and interviews were other sources where I was able to extract data about women
entrepreneurs and analyze them. They were slightly different from forums. I checked some
Canadian entrepreneurship podcasts that offered women-related topics or had a woman as
their guest in some episodes. My list included: The Go To, Startup Canada, Uncorked, Every day
is new day (Entrepreneur roadmap to success and positive impact), Think Space, Into the wild,
Fearless Women podcast. I read or watched the interviews of mentors and entrepreneurs who I
found through podcasts or searching on the internet and LinkedIn.

12

In general, building the trust of venture capital firms and the mostly invisible presence of
women in STEM were prominent topics discussed. I noticed that in podcasts and interviews,
questions are usually selected and asked by hosts or interviewers and they often lead
conversations. As a result, it is more likely that specific topics were chosen for discussions. So
interviewees (women entrepreneurs) have a lower chance of talking about other issues. While
hot topics such as fundraising can attract audiences, it may stop interviewers and interviewees
from discovering different aspects of women's entrepreneurship.
Although undoubtedly, lack of access to capital and male-dominated STEM startups are two
important issues for women entrepreneurs, I decided to investigate major barriers on the path
for women business-owners without any specific direction. Helen Ahl, in her article Why
Research on Women Entrepreneurs Needs New Direction (2006), speaks about this type of
assumption under the name of Discursive Practices. These practices stop researchers from
studying women’s entrepreneurship from different perspectives and realistically. By
considering these shortcomings, I decided to identify the women entrepreneurs' main
challenges with minimum assumptions.

Figure 3. Forums conversation analysis was a method to gain a better understanding about entrepreneurship in Canada.
Different challenges and needs were categorized based on conversation forums.

13

3.2 Methodology

My project is grounded in a participatory approach including a high level of collaboration with,
and engagement of, women entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors through semi-structured
deep-interviews, co-creation workshops, and evaluation sessions.
The participatory approach as the cornerstone of my design research helped me to gain an indepth understanding of my target audience (women entrepreneurs living in Canada).
Sanders and Stappers (2014) talk about user engagement in three phases of the design process:
before design (pre-design), during design (ideation and evaluation), and after design (postdesign). Pre-design engagement happens in the fuzzy front end of design research (Image 2)
when a designer has not begun ideation. In this stage, I engaged my target audience as partners
and co-designers, not as a subject of study (Mattelmäki, Brandt, & Vaajakallio, 2011). This
allowed me to define my design questions by determining the gaps in the startup ecosystem
and understanding the current needs of women entrepreneurs.

Figure 4. User engagement in different phases of the design process (Sanders & staples, 2014). (Illustration by the author).

I used deep-interviews to capture the challenges, contexts, insights, and needs of women
entrepreneurs. A generative toolkit consisting of challenges and skill cards and sticky notes
allowed me to encourage participants to dig into the deeper layers of their thoughts and
emotions. It helped further build a sense of empathy and shaped dialogues between
participants and myself based on the activities. Due to the unpredicted situation caused by
COVID-19, I benefited from online platforms such as Miro and Zoom to conduct some of the
14

collaboration sessions. In section four, I outline the details of co-creation sessions, challenges,
and outcomes.
In the design phase, stakeholders of my project and design fellows participated in different
ideation sessions to offer different solutions for identified needs. By analyzing the results of
deep-interviews, co-creation workshops, and also employing my insights, a platform was
designed that addresses some of the major challenges of women entrepreneurs.
In order to evaluate the final design, I took advantage of both online platforms and paper
prototypes. During the evaluation sessions, participants discussed different features of the
design outcome, its cons and pros, and added or removed some details.
Benefiting from participatory methods and generative tools in different stages of my thesis
project helped me to bring stakeholders’ insights to the surface by giving them the freedom to
depict and share their thoughts, feelings, and dreams that are often so difficult to express in
words -the deeper layers of our brain that are not easy to access (Sanders & Stappers, 2014).

Figure 5. My design research overlaid on Sanders’s map of design research. I add context and more details to my design research
map based on Mattelmäki, Brandt, & Vaajakallio (2011) view about collaborative design.

15

3.3 Deep interviews

3.3.1 General overview
The active participation of the target group was prioritized in all stages. For this reason, an
interview was preferred to a questionnaire as a source of generating an in-depth understanding
of the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in Canada and in identifying design
opportunities. Even though there are some benefits in utilizing surveys, — such as being timeeffective and easy to analyze — a large amount of useful information would remain hidden
from the researcher. Questionnaires, to a large extent, may guide the researcher in a specific
direction due to pre-determined questions and answers, and can prevent the interviewer from
discovering new insights. Moreover, one is unable to collect non-verbal information such as the
interview subject’s facial expression or their struggle to answer some questions that may give
researchers a hint to build a deeper conversation around the topic.
Since my goal in this project was to avoid any prejudice, a semi-structured deep interview
seemed a great method to collect information. A semi-structured interview guide was devised
for the interviews focusing on three main themes: the background and women’s intention of
entrepreneurial activities (their stories), the challenges faced by them and what caused them,
and open conversation about women entrepreneurship in general and their suggestions to
address discussed issues.
The interview guide was used flexibly during the interviews to account for the discovery of
unanticipated findings. Indeed, a flexible approach was needed to have a dynamic conversation
with people who were coming from different backgrounds and had different personalities.
The interviews were originally intended as 30-120 minutes sessions focusing primarily on
women-owned businesses and the stories behind them, as well as topics such as the gender
gap in business or their field of activity.
Despite my initial plans for the interview, changes were indicated. One of the main reasons to
alter the interview plan was the busy schedule of businesswomen with little time for academic
research. This was especially evident in only six responses to 38 requests, only four agreeing to
be interviewed. The names and information of interviewees were collected through an internet
search, watching the videos of their lectures such as TEDx and events’ speech, participating in
conferences and events related to women entrepreneurs, direct introduction through
university professors and friends, and podcasts such as The Go To. Of course, the role of the
unforeseen conditions of the COVID-19 on businesses and the double occupation of
entrepreneurs to protect their business cannot be ignored. In this regard, the process of
attracting participants was doubly difficult.

16

The challenging and time-consuming process of accessing the interviewees and their limited
availability prompted me to consider changing the initial structure of the interview to gain more
necessary data during a single meeting session. As a result, I combined interview sessions with
the first phase of the co-creation workshop, which was going to identify the core challenges of
women entrepreneurs. In addition, I reduced the time of the interview to 30 minutes to
encourage invitees to participate in the process. In this respect, a well-designed interview
session was essential. In the following, I will demonstrate the process of changing my interview
not only before starting that but also after beginning it.

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3.3.2 Challenging process of interview;
Engagement and strategic approach

Figure 6. Planning for co-creation sessions and deep interviews

As mentioned, a blend of a deep interview and making activity was considered as a powerful
tool to gain an in-depth understanding of women entrepreneurs and their challenges. In this
respect, the interview process was a combination of a list of questions and making activities
using simple tools such as sticky notes, pen, and paper to engage the user more in the
expression of their ideas and feelings. This activity was based on the idea that making, even in
the form of writing words or doodling on paper, can bring the deeper layer of people's
emotions to the surface and create a context in which the interviewee felt more comfortable in
expressing and sharing their thoughts, insights, and feelings.
In addition, I prepared a set of challenge cards. They consisted of a list of common challenges
that entrepreneurs usually face during launching a business. The main idea was borrowed from
one of my studio activities which was a game board that presented different steps of launching
an online business. It aimed to accelerate the conversation and encourage interviewees to
participate and think actively while they were visualizing the major challenges.
18

Figure 7. Designing a generative toolkit for deep interview based on a game board –An introduction to entrepreneurship– from
my studio practice.

The interviewees were divided into two groups: 1. women entrepreneurs, 2. experts. Each
group required different types of questions. The first was divided into three subgroups: women
who have just started their businesses, women with successful businesses in Canada, and
women who, despite their efforts, failed to start their businesses due to various obstacles. The
focus during the interview with this group was on the individual and their unique stories and
challenges. The second group consisted of experts who were in touch with women
entrepreneurs, such as investors or mentors. During the meeting with experts, the conversation
centered around women's entrepreneurial activities, their challenges, and how to empower
them in business.
However, due to COVID-19 and the resultant changes signified by social distancing, these
activities were transferred and adjusted to online platforms (Zoom and Miro) and the rest were
removed. By changing the interview process and tools, I tried to design a simple making
activity.
The interview was focused on identifying the main challenges of women entrepreneurs.
Interviewees were engaged in simple activities when they were asked to talk about their
challenges and feelings upon starting and running their businesses. In this regard, participants
were asked to review the steps that they have taken during kick-starting and growing their
businesses and write the challenges that they have faced on sticky notes and put them on a
map based on the level of difficulty. After talking about challenges, they indicated their feelings
about the challenges on the bottom of the map. What did they experience emotionally and
mentally? What did they think about the challenges at that moment? They could connect
19

emotions and challenges if they wanted by clicking on the sticky notes and using a connection
arrow. In the end, the output of the interview was a map of the participants' challenges,
feelings, and fears during their entrepreneurial activities.
Based on the information I gained from various articles, books, and the Internet, the interview
promised better user engagement that led to valuable results. Since a participatory activity with
the help of user-friendly platforms was relatively new in the field of virtual research, I was very
excited to be able to provide the interviewees with this new interview experience. All of this
made me confident that I would have a pleasant and engaging series of interviews in which
participants could be encouraged to participate in the next stage of my research: the ideation
phase.

Figure 8. The first collaborative activity designed on Miro. It aimed to understand main challenges of women entrepreneurs,
their feelings, fears, and dreams.

20

Figure 9. A revised version of collaborative activity on Miro.

However, what happened during the actual interview process revealed that making activities
may seem unappealing to the target group of this research. During the interview process, one
of the interviewees, after seeing the Miro board and the activity, refused to participate in it and
was unwilling to continue the interview. Another interviewee was open only to talking and
answering questions and excused herself from participating in side-activities such as Miro card
sorting.
Indeed, making and similar activities not only seemed meaningless to some interviewees but
also might create the image of a non-professional interview in their minds. Although the use of
new and participatory methods can be interesting, this can vary depending on the mental and
physical condition of the participants, their readiness for the session, their character type, and
even familiarity with such activities in the academic context. The conclusion was that the
employment of the same method of interview for all participants of this project was not
necessarily the right approach to conducting research.
Therefore, I implemented some changes in the process of my interviews and the applied
method. I designed two different strategies. First was a simple and semi-structured interview
without any making activities. The second was an interview with a making activity based around
challenges and feelings. The first strategy would be changed to the second if the interviewee
was ready for making activity.
I learned to consider even more flexibility in my methodology when I worked with people
during the pandemic. In the unprecedented time of uncertainty and physical distancing
surrounding COVID-19, people’s lives have changed significantly. Business owners face many
21

difficulties to preserve their businesses, as well as the dilution of the work-life boundaries
because of working from home and doubled pressure of parenting. It was understandable that
participants may not be ready to participate in a new activity or may not be comfortable with a
new approach during a short conversation (usually 30 minutes).
In a nutshell, all these activities aim to create a sense of empathy and a correct understanding
of stakeholders. While empathy cannot be achieved without engagement (Mattelmäki, Brandt,
& Vaajakallio, 2011), one can also argue engagement cannot be achieved without empathy.
Paying attention to the feelings of interviewees and the context is key to creating a sense of
empathy and communicating well with them which leads to better engagement in the
research.
The challenging process of interviewing entrepreneurs revealed that design requires a flexible
and strategic approach.

3.3.3 A short report on interviews
In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 participants: five entrepreneurs and five experts.
Due to the managerial role in educating and mentoring women in business, one of the experts
was in direct and indirect contact with more than hundreds of women entrepreneurs in
Canada. As a result, she had in-depth insight into the entrepreneurship ecosystem, women's
entrepreneurial activities, and their problems. Moreover, women entrepreneurs came from
different backgrounds and were working in diverse fields such as health care and technology,
the beverage industry, advertising, architecture, and film and animation industry. This diversity
provided me with a chance to hear amazing stories of launching their businesses in different
industries and look at their challenges through different lenses. It led me to gain a more
realistic understanding of entrepreneurship in Canada.
Three interviews were conducted in person (by maintaining physical distance, sanitizing hands,
and wearing face mask), six via zoom call, and one by telephone. The duration of face-to-face
interviews was 60-120 minutes and telephone calls were 30 minutes.
During the interviews, I was considering covering all the necessary topics while the
conversation flowed freely. As a result, in some interviews, additional qualitative data was
obtained. It was enormously helpful to understand women's business activities, their feelings
and thoughts, and their needs. Moreover, although interviews and speeches of the
interviewees were checked beforehand, during the meetings, more personal information was
shared that was immensely useful in creating a sense of empathy.

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3.3.4 Main Insights
The interviews provided an excellent opportunity to highlight the needs and challenges of
women as well as their achievements in the business world. Interviewing helped me gain
insights into women entrepreneurship in Canada, the process of starting and leading a business,
barriers on the path of women entrepreneurs, the systematic gender discrimination, the needs
and dreams of women in business, and indicated potential design opportunities in this area.
During the card sorting activity and interviews, interviewees were asked to label problems
based on how they found them challenging. It was helpful to understand the main challenges
and what matters to women entrepreneurs. Some problems were repetitive but their effects
on the business were not considerable or women found them less challenging. Based on data
collected from interviews, the challenges that were discussed during interviews were labeled. I
put them on a map divided into three sections based on the level of intensity: Less challenging,
somehow challenging, and very challenging. Table 1 shows how each challenge was weighted
based on the level of intensity and how many times they were reported.

Figure 10. Cart sorting activity as a generative tool was employed during deep interview sessions.

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Figure 11. Discussed challenges from interviews were mapped based on the level of difficulty.

Table 1. Each challenge was weighted based on the level of intensity and how many times they were reported.

After analyzing the result of interviews, although many ideas were discussed, I narrowed them
to two general areas including mentorship and community and easy access to available
resources. In the following, these major insights will be discussed.

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3.3.4.1 Mentorship and community
One of the most repeated demands was accessing mentorship and connection to communities.
It was discussed many times as an effective factor in promoting business and facilitating
business growth. Having access to a mentor will have an evident impact on reducing decision
errors, creating a strategic vision, and confidence. Moreover, because of their experience and
connections, mentors can connect entrepreneurs to the right people or resources, which will be
a huge driving force to accelerate the growing movement of startups.
Connecting to community and mentorship is critical especially at the beginning of starting a
business. One of the founders and leaders in the healthcare field talked about sponsorship
(mentorship) as a missing piece of entrepreneurship facilities while she was pointing out that:

3.3.4.2 Easy access to available resources

In parallel with sharing challenges about finding a mentor and connection to the
entrepreneurship community, it seemed that some women are unaware of available resources
helpful to kick off a business. These resources are not only educational but also can be related
to financial grants and loans, legal and paperwork, and making connections. In Canada, there
are more than 2000 organizations that directly or indirectly empower entrepreneurs (WEKH,
2020). Finding some of these resources is not easy if one does not spend a great deal of time
searching.
In confirmation of this, one of the interviewees initially pointed out that due to the special
nature of her field of activity (Working with film production companies in Hollywood) no
resource can help her in business. However, while drawing the map of her challenges with
cards, she pointed out that she participated in a management course, but still felt the need for
a series of training and connections in the field of workforce management, legal
25

documentation, and also connections with other people active in her field. When the names of
some of the organizations and platforms such as FWE were shared with her, she had no idea
they existed. At this point, a hidden need was identified: informing women about the existence
of such services and resources.
In another interview, the interviewee mentioned that she attended some courses and found
some resources after eight months of starting her business. Even though these resources were
helpful to scale her business and save money, she was talking about how knowing about all
these resources at the beginning will save their business, money, and time. Another participant
pointed out that she was lucky enough to work with a VC firm that introduced her to some of
these useful resources.

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3.4 Personas

To develop solutions for the identified needs, personas were created to encapsulate the needs,
behaviours, goals, and traits of the target group. This helped to shape a holistic understanding
of users and engender a sense of empathy that informed the scope of the design problem and
the framework for design.
Personas were synthesized from data collected from deep interviews and co-creation sessions.
Two different personas were described to reflect a picture of individuals dealing with two main
challenges; accessing mentorship and community and finding available resources effortlessly.

27

Figure 12. Personas were synthesized from data collected from deep interviews and co-creation sessions.

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Figure 13. Personas were synthesized from data collected from deep interviews and co-creation sessions.

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04. Design Explorations

30

4.1 Journey map

Journey mapping aimed to explore the problem space, map experiences, and visualize the
process that women entrepreneurs go through to answer the two major identified needs:
finding available entrepreneurship resources and accessing mentors. The journey maps helped
develop these insights further with user thoughts, emotions, and struggles in order to create a
visualized narrative.
Deep interviews followed by personas provided an excellent context for user journeys. Two
journey maps were made based on the personas’ points of view. They demonstrate a clear
picture of user pain points and design opportunities. I also leveraged the maps in designing the
ideation sessions and what I should discuss with participants during the sessions.
The journey maps indicated a possible connection between mentorship and community. People
who access a community have a better chance in benefitting from mentorship and working with
mentors will widen entrepreneurs’ networks and connect them to the community.

31

Figure 14. User journey map aimed to explore the problem space, mapping experiences, and visualize the process that women entrepreneurs go through to answer the two major identified needs.

Figure 15. User journey map aimed to explore the problem space, mapping experiences, and visualize the process that women entrepreneurs go through to answer the two major identified needs.

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Figure 16. The journey maps showed that there is a connection between mentorship and community.

Figure 17. The journey maps revealed the pain points and needs of target group, design opportunities, and what needs to be discussed during ideation sessions.

34

4.2 Ideation session
By involving the target group at the front end of the design process, current participant needs
were identified. In the next step, they were invited into the creative process. The prime
objective of ideation sessions was to talk about the problems and also generate and dig into the
ideas and their wishes in the face of challenges. Participants included some of the previous
interviewees and a new group of participants.
Seven ideation sessions were held: three sessions with mentors, two sessions with
entrepreneurs, and two sessions with design students at Emily Carr. Each session began with
describing the identified needs, the context, and sharing some stories of women entrepreneurs
to create a vivid picture of the problem space in the minds of participants. The duration of
sessions varied from 30 to 120 minutes. Due to COVID-19, five sessions were conducted online
via Zoom call using Miro board as a medium of collaboration for those participants who were
interested in doing so.

Figure 18. Miro was used as a platform for collaboration during ideation sessions.

As well as individual sessions with mentors and entrepreneurs, I organized two different
brainstorming sessions with my design peers at Emily Carr. One in-person session with four
designers focused on how women entrepreneurs might be connected to the community and
mentors. Another online session with my supervisor and three design peers looked at

developing ideas around how women entrepreneurs might find and access the available
resources effortlessly.

Figure 19. Brainstorming session with my design peers at Emily Carr.

These brainstorming sessions provided a space for exchange and discussion between
participants and myself while they were offering creative solutions to the identified needs. They
were asked to not limit their creativity to do-able ideas. As the coordinator of the sessions, I
encouraged them to not judge each other’s ideas and feel free to share unusual ideas. The aim
was to create a comfortable space to inspire creative thinking.

4.2.1 Insights and outcomes:
Quotes from interviews were used as sources of inspiration and innovation. They were the
extract of different ideas and dreams shared during those sessions.

36

As the best designers not only listen to people but also follow their own reasoning and instincts
(Verganti, 2009), I used the ideas shared by the participants as sources of design inspiration and
innovation. In this regard, I narrowed down the result of ideation sessions into five solutions to
answer the target group's needs. These ideas were based on how women entrepreneurs can
easily access short term mentorship and educate themselves by having access to all
entrepreneurship resources in one place.
The following graphics (figure 20 to 24) indicate some of the ideas expressed during ideation
sessions from number of different participants. These user fellows were helpful to clarify some
of the functions in the final design.
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Figure 20. Ideation sessions’ outcome. User fellow. Community for entrepreneur. New members will be introduced to the
community by connectors. They will help new members to feel confident to ask their questions, share their experiences,
resources, and answers..

Figure 21. Learning and mentorship through action. Connection between young students and mentors and industries through
the platform that encourage short term internship with mentors or companies.

Figure 22. Ideation sessions’ outcome. User fellow. An interactive map of resources showing visitors different steps and
materials of launching and continuing a business. Filters lead users to the right resource, it can be a book, a course, podcast,
article, interview, etc.

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Figure 23. Ideation sessions’ outcome. User fellow. An open-source community for entrepreneurs. Consists of two different type
of user: contributors and receivers. They share resources, experiences, and answer questions.

Figure 24. Ideation sessions’ outcome. User fellow. A dating app for mentors and mentees. It matches them based of the area of
activity, needs, background, location, etc.

39

05. Design Outcomes

40

5.1 Foojan
By reviewing and evaluating five final design solutions and reflecting on the outcomes of
ideation sessions, they were merged, erased, and some of their features changed. By
considering the value propositions of each idea, cons, and pros, a practical solution was
generated. The result was Foojan, a platform to empower women entrepreneurs by providing
them with a library of resources while they can be a part of an entrepreneurship community.
Women entrepreneurs will have this opportunity to ask their questions from other community
members while they can share their experiences.

Figure 25. Reflection on and evaluation of the solutions.

It will be a place to share the resources and tools that one finds helpful in the case of running
and managing a business. It can be an educational course, a book or an article, a podcast, an
interview, or an organization that helps entrepreneurs. Resources will be categorized and
presented in a form of an interactive map.
Foojan is a platform for empowering women entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs, a place to give
and to receive. So the collaboration of the main stakeholders of this project will continue after
the design phase as well. They will shape and grow the community and the library of resources
to empower each other (Please find the appendix for more details).

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5.2 User testing and feedback
To evaluate the initial design outcome, a low fidelity prototype was shared with participants –
two entrepreneurs and a mentor, and a designer– during collaborative evaluation sessions.
These sessions were between 45-60 minutes, focusing on major features of the platform, how it
can be more useful and goal-oriented, and how it can be an active entrepreneurship
community from mentor and mentees’ stand view. One session was held online with the help
of video call and screen sharing. The rest was in person, while the paper prototype was a
medium to test and talk about the platform. The low fidelity prototype gave freedom to
participants to iterate the idea and share their thoughts actively.

Figure 26. Evaluating the final idea by entrepreneurs and mentors.

5.2.1 Insights
One of the features offered by a participant was the possibility of connection between
community members. She said: “Connection with entrepreneurs who are active on the
platform will be a brilliant idea. The opportunity to reach and ask them questions directly or
make connections is both valuable and helpful.” Based on this feedback, I added a button to the
user profile for sending a connection request.
The idea of a categorized library and members' contribution to build and grow the library
seemed great to one of the participants. She mentioned that one of her major difficulties while
launching her business was finding legal papers or being knowledgeable about them. She
42

suggested adding a specific category in the legal section to learn about the process or find
documents. Another participant who was a newcomer pointed out that at the beginning, one of
her struggles was becoming familiar with Canada's legal system and what are the steps to apply
for a fund, register a company, tax payment, and the law and procedure of hiring workforce.
She said gathering all the related resources and categorizing them can help entrepreneurs who
are new to the entrepreneurship world.

Figure 27. Evaluating the final idea by entrepreneurs and mentors.

One of the most frequent comments was on the role of community in empowering women and
why it is valuable to let all people, regardless of gender, participate in empowering women
entrepreneurs. One entrepreneur said that including men in the process of empowering
women would help to erase gender gaps while they learn about real barriers to women
entrepreneurs.
One participant suggested adding a new section to the home page for team building. “The
community has another potential: connections for team building! I will definitely use the
platform if I find people who can help me as a business partner or co-founder to build my
business”. She stated that people can use the community as a space to know about people,
their background, skill sets, and field of interests. A link to the LinkedIn profile will create a
43

more trustable atmosphere. Even though this idea can add another value to the design
outcome, I was concerned about making the platform too complicated for users. Adding new
and more features over time to let users learn about the platform step by step and slowly can
solve that issue.
Trust building as an essential component of the active and practical community was discussed.
Trust is a critical component to encourage entrepreneurs, especially mentors, to share their
knowledge or answer questions. It can be trust between community members or belief in the
platform as a professional space for entrepreneurs. Inviting experienced and well-known
entrepreneurs to use the platform and setting rules for using the platform were offered
solutions to this matter.

Figure 28. Evaluating the final idea by entrepreneurs and mentors.

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06. Final Mockups

45

6.1 System Map

Figure 29. System map of Foojan, a place for sharing knowledge in different forms and accessing to short term mentorship.

6.2 Site map

Figure 30. Site map.

6.3 Brand identity
6.3.1 Mood board and color palette

Figure 31. Mood board and color palette.

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6.3.2 Logo design

Figure 32. Logo design. Foojan is a Kurdish name that describes a loud voice that everyone can hear. This
name is fitting for a platform that listens to women entrepreneurs and provides a space for them to be
heard.
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Figure 33. Logo design.

50

51

6.4 Sketches

Figure 34. Wire framing-sketches.

6.5 Wireframes

Figure 35. Interactive prototype of platform.

6.5 Foojan prototype screens

The platform consists of 2 main sections: 1.community 2. Library.
Community:
In the Community section, users can share their stories and what they have learned with other
women entrepreneurs. It is an opportunity for women entrepreneurs to learn from others'
experiences. Moreover, women entrepreneurs can ask questions from community members
when they need their help. To make information searchable, questions and stories are required
to be tagged. Tags help members find specific resources and answers.
Members are encouraged to give back to the community by answering questions to share their
knowledge with others.
A voting system is used to ensure the quality of content. Up-voting helps exceptional content
rise to the top and brings awareness to valuable responses (figure 38).
Community members can reach each other to build connections based on their expertise or
region (figure 40). If someone is interested in mentoring women entrepreneurs – regardless of
their gender - they can indicate that by adding a mentorship tag to their profile (image 42).
Unlike platforms that provide women with long-term mentorship, Foojan encourages mentors
to join the community for short-term mentorship. This concept was suggested during
interviews when some experts expressed that long-term mentorship is a large responsibility.
Conversely, it is more appealing to allocate a short amount of time every week or month to
have a quick chat or answer questions and give back to the community. This can help set up a
path towards long-term relationships between mentors and entrepreneurs.
Contrary to some multi-purpose platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn where people
usually receive different types of messages, Foojan is specifically designed for entrepreneurs to
build connections, ask and answer questions, and educate themselves. This ensures that one
feels comfortable reaching others to ask questions and establish connections as it is a
professional platform for entrepreneurs.

The platform has been designed to encourage entrepreneurs with different levels of experience
to contribute to helping others. For example, a person with two years of experience can play
the role of a mentor to a person who is about to start their business. This will encourage higher
engagement of entrepreneurs on the platform to answer questions. It means an entrepreneur
with a few years of experience can play the role of a mentor while receiving mentorship from
an experienced mentor.
Library:
Foojan Library would be an excellent source for entrepreneurs to search the extensive database
of resources such as educational courses, organizations, articles, podcasts, events, and
interviews. These resources are searchable based on their type or region. Gathering all the
available resources in one place will help save time and find different types of resources. In
addition, the interactive library map (figure 36) provides users with the chance to see some of
the new topics and terms that they might have no idea about. So this gives them a good insight
into what they know and what they need to know.
As Foojan's library is community-driven, members can contribute to building it up by sharing
reliable resources they are familiar with. Members can also create personal libraries by
bookmarking resources, stories, and questions while checking other members' libraries.
As a woman starting a small business, one is able to find resources they might never have come
across, make essential connections, and become part of a supportive community. With Foojan,
women entrepreneurs will be able to stand on the shoulders of other women while bringing
other women up on the way.
In the following, the main pages of the platform are presented (figures 36 to 42).

55

Figure 36. The main page of the Library. Interactive map of different and important topics in business using filters to find the most
relevant results that users are looking for. The map will change based on the selected filters. When one clicks on a circle on the map,
they can see subcategories.

Figure 37. Library's search result page. After collecting a specific category, user can see all the available resources. User can apply filters
such as newest and top to search through resources easily. User can add resources to their personal libraries by marking resources.

57

Figure 38. The main page of community. A place to search and read new stories, questions, and resources.

58

Figure 39. Personal library (left) and my account page (right). Users can create a personal library by bookmarking their favorite resources.
So they can come back and check them whenever they want. And also they can create new connections with other women entrepreneurs.
So user can reach them when they need their thoughts and insights.

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Figure 40. Following and followers pages (first and second from left), Member's profile to view (right), and the message page (left, bottom).

Community members can reach each other to build connections based on their expertise or region.

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Figure 41. Share experience. With a simple and user-friendly design to write an experience, add video, photo, embedded link, and new
sections. The tools on Foojan help users to write in a clear and engaging manner. Each content shared on Foojan needs to be tagged. Tags
make information searchable and find answers that are important to you.

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Figure 42. Settings. If someone is interested in mentoring women entrepreneurs – regardless of their gender –

they can indicate that by adding a mentorship tag to their profile.

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07. Conclusion and Future Directions

This research aimed to identify the significant challenges for women entrepreneurs in small and
medium Canadian enterprises and to offer an effective solution. Based on the qualitative
analysis of the interviews, it can be concluded that accessing mentorship, connection to the
entrepreneurship community and easy access to entrepreneurship resources are frequent
requests among women entrepreneurs. In this regard, an interactive and collaborative platform
facilitates communication between entrepreneurs. A library of entrepreneurship resources
accessible to beginners and experienced entrepreneurs alike offers further support.
The participatory approach helped shape a real and deep understanding of the
entrepreneurship ecosystem and a great sense of empathy with women entrepreneurs.
Moreover, the target group's participation in the ideation and evaluation phase helped
generate a relevant solution. Relevance to users in this case means “useful, usable, and
desirable” (Sanders, 2002). The final design outcome was created based on the women
entrepreneurs’ experiences, feelings, dreams, fears, and aspirations.
However, the challenging and time-consuming process of acquiring participants, their busy
schedule, and the particular way of communication and working with entrepreneurs did not let
me benefit from a group co-creation session. As a result, all sessions with entrepreneurs and
mentors were solo. It deprived me of forming a dialogue between different participants, which
would reveal further hidden layers of thoughts and emotions. It should be mentioned that the
unusual situation caused by COVID-19 increased the difficulty of acquiring and collaborating
with the target group. In the future, I would like to conduct group evaluation sessions to
critique and analyze the design outcome precisely.
In general, this project broadened my vision into participatory design where my audiences
actively played a role in different phases of my design research — from the fuzzy front end of
the design process (predesign) to generative and evaluative phases. This approach and its
challenges taught me that design requires a flexible and strategic approach. One cannot pick a
solid plan for the entirety of their process if they want to discover the study subject's hidden
aspects.
In a nutshell, all the participatory activities in my thesis research aimed to create empathy and a
deep understanding of stakeholders. While empathy cannot be achieved without engagement
(Mattelmäki, Brandt, & Vaajakallio, 2011), one can also argue engagement cannot be achieved
without empathy. Paying attention to interviewees' feelings and the context is key to creating a
sense of empathy and communicating well with them, which leads to better engagement in the
research.
Moving forward, I would like to see how new technologies like AI and Machine learning can
improve the platform's efficiency and create a better user experience. In addition, as indicated
previously, one of the features offered during the evaluation session was team building. In any

64

future iterations of this project, I would discuss this feature with my target group to evaluate its
value and potential and how it should be implemented in the current idea.
Moreover, user testing the final design outcome from user experience standpoint will provide
the chance of in-depth UX study of the platform, yielding further validation of the concept and
usability of such a service. So I am hopeful to be able to test the interactive mockups with the
target audience while we can walk through the platform step by step. It can be held as a virtual
session while users have access to the high-fidelity interactive prototype and video call or inperson sessions.

65

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09. Appendix

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Figure 43. Research ethics approval.

71

Figure 44. Visualizing the important results of interview # 1 & 2.

72

Figure 45. Visualizing the important results of interview # 3 & 4.

73

Figure 46. Visualizing the important results of interview # 5 & 6.

74

Figure 47. Visualizing the important results of interview # 7 & 8.

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Figure 48. Mind mapping after user interview and secondary research.

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The platform consists of 2
main sections:
1- Library
2- Community
Figure 49. Landing page.








Interactive map of different
and important topics in
business
Using filters to find the
most relevant results that
users are looking for
The map will change based
on the selected filters
The hover mood of the
map shows different types
of resources such as books,
podcasts, courses, and ...

Figure 50. Interactive Library resources’ map.

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





After collecting a specific
category, user can see all the
available resources
User can apply filters such as
the most checked, new, the
most recommended, and etc.
to search through resources
easily
User can mark the resources
to check them later

Figure 51. List of available resources after applying filters.



User can see who shares the
resources (contributors)



User will make a personal
Library base of what they
highlighted and saved

Figure 52. User can see who share the resources on Library.

Figure 53. Users can make a personal Library for themselves.

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

A place to share knowledge,
experience, and questions
People who share
knowledge and experience
don't have to be women
necessarily. The community
invites all people to
empower women
regardless of their gender
User can apply filters such
as the most checked, new,
the most recommended,
etc. to search through
resources easily
One needs to have a profile
to be able to post on the
community page





Figure 54. Community main page.













Figure 55. Writing a post.

User can see who wrote the
article or share the resource
or ask question
Each post can be a place to
talk about the topic and be
connected to other
entrepreneurs
One needs to have a
verified profile to be able to
participate in the
conversation and reply to
the community members
The posts can be shared,
reported, saved
The contributors should use
hashtags to help other
people to find their post
The resources shared in the
community can be added to
the library by the admin or
members
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

User can check the profile
of contributors to see what
they shared and what they
wrote about



Each community member
needs a profile to be able to
post on the Community
Users can use the library
resources without any
profile

Figure 56. User can check the profile of contributors.



Figure 57. Each community member needs a profile to be able to post on the Community.

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