About Designthink
We want African companies to be the places the world's best talent wants to work.
That's the long version. The short version is — we build resilient teams for startups in emerging markets.
Meet Reni
Reni, the founder of DesignThink Advisory has spent more than 10 years driving, scaling, building and mentoring folks on all things people related.
She started DesignThink because she kept watching African startups raise real capital and then lose the talent war on technicalities — outdated labor laws, untested comp structures, founders too busy shipping to design how their teams actually work. DesignThink exists to close that gap.
Outside of client work, Reni is an avid traveler and serves as a travel concierge helping people plan and enjoy the best trips - be it for fun, work, events ..you name it!
How we got here
DesignThink started with one observation: the most ambitious companies in Africa were still building their teams the way their parents' companies did. Meanwhile their investors, customers, and competitors had already moved on. So we set up to be the people advisory that actually works the way a modern founder does — embedded, opinionated, and focused on execution.
We started with referrals. We're now the in-house people team for a handful of companies, the first call for founders on their second or third critical hire, and the referral partner for the accelerators, funds, and family offices investing in the region.
We want DesignThink to be the pre-eminent people advisory in Africa — partner to the founders shaping the continent, and the proof point that modern, people-first companies scale harder.
How we work
Remote-first, across Nigeria, the US, and wherever our clients operate.
Senior attention on every engagement. You get an owner, not a queue.
Collaborative, autonomous, and iterative — we design, tweak and design again until we get the right fit for you
Practical before theoretical. A framework that doesn't ship isn't a framework.
Want to build teams with us?
We hire associates carefully and rarely. If you're an HR or talent practitioner who wants to work on the strategic end of the craft — across markets, at pace — we want to hear from you.