We had the pleasure of hearing James Brown talk about his entrepreneurial journey, what motivates him, and his current venture, Mobiloo.
Mobiloo is a service that allows organisations to rent a mobile disabled changing facility, with a special hoist and changing table, enabling disabled people to attend events that they would not have been able to attend before. Why? According to Brown, often standard toilets “undignified, unsafe, unhygienic and unacceptable” for people with certain disabilities.
I personally found it inspiring how James, a man with 5% sight, not only is a successful entrepreneur, but an award-winning Paralympian. James talked a lot about thinking about what motivates you to do what you do. For him, it’s all about independence, discovery, and challenge. He prompted us to think about what motivates us, trying to identify 3 key values. I found this exercise really insightful, and I will continue to reflect on.
One aspect of James’ talk that resonates with our values in Innovation, is the idea of bringing your own perspective and experience to the table when trying to identify problems to solve, and how these factors shape the ideas we form. For example, a non- disabled person might have come up with a completely different solution to Mobiloo.
We focus a lot on empathy when solving problems in Innovation, trying to see things from the user’s perspective, but we often don’t consider disabled users. We live in a time where technological advances should mean everyone should be able to experience life to the fullest. Maybe we should be thinking more about how we can design and innovate for everyone? I know it’s something I’ll keep in mind going forward in my projects.