Matchboxology was born at a dinner in 2005 between a diverse set of friends who became deeply bonded by a simple epiphany; consumers and citizens are the same people. They wondered if they could pioneer new ways to harness our over 50 years of global development, marketing, and advertising experience across five continents to rethink how to wrestle with the African continent’s most challenging social and development problems. Working with Levi’s as a first client and HIV prevention as our first thorny challenge, we discovered the power of tapping the creativity and voices in communities. We learned through trial and error how to collectively design and implement revolutionary new approaches with ordinary people, local leaders, and experts as equal partners in the process. Early in 2010, they discovered their Matchboxology’s way of working aligned beautifully with the global design thinking movement. So, we proudly became Africa’s first Human Centered Design consultancy entirely by serendipity.

Matchboxology will facilitate adaptive management and application of HCD to research uptake processes and SBC interventions. Matchboxology works with global SBC projects by applying evidence-based decision-making, lean start-up principles, habit theory and HCD thinking to accelerate change.