Why Empathy, Not Algorithms, Is The Key To Unlocking South Africa’s Billion-rand Digital Economy

While much of the global technology conversation is dominated by artificial intelligence, Specno Product Designer Taeya Dukes believes many South African businesses are overlooking a far more immediate competitive advantage: understanding the people they are actually designing for.

For Dukes, the conversation around women in technology has never simply been about representation; it’s about who gets trusted to shape the products, platforms and customer experiences that millions of South Africans rely on every day.

Women account for only around 23% of technology roles in South Africa, with representation narrowing further in senior and decision-making positions. Yet the consequences of those decisions extend far beyond the technology sector itself, influencing everything from banking and healthcare to education, mobility and public services. "The conversation shouldn't stop at getting women into technology," says Dukes. "It should extend to who gets to define customer experiences, shape product strategy, and influence the decisions that millions of people interact with every day."

Having worked across disciplines including information design, brand design, UX/UI, product design, and service design, Dukes says the labels have become far less important than the thinking behind them.

"The further I've progressed, the more I've realised the boundaries between these roles aren't nearly as clear as they seem," she says. "Whether you're shaping a brand, designing a digital product or improving a service journey, the foundation is still the same: understanding people and creating meaningful experiences around their needs."

Her concern is not ideological. It is commercial.

South Africa's digital economy serves one of the most diverse consumer markets in the world. DataReportal estimates that the country had more than 50 million internet users at the beginning of 2025, yet 13.6 million people remain offline. Even among connected users, experiences differ dramatically depending on device quality, data affordability, language preferences, payment behaviour and levels of digital confidence.

Despite this complexity, Dukes believes many organisations still design products around assumptions rather than evidence. "There isn't an average South African user," she says. "When businesses design around assumptions instead of evidence, those assumptions become barriers. If anything, South Africa challenges us to design for one of the most diverse groups of users anywhere in the world."

Research by Forrester has found that every dollar invested in user experience can return up to 100 dollars in value, while numerous international studies consistently show that customers abandon digital journeys when onboarding is confusing, trust signals are weak or products fail to reflect their circumstances.

Dukes believes that misunderstanding often starts long before a product reaches customers.

"The most effective designers I've worked with aren't defined by one discipline anymore," she says. "They're the people who connect research with strategy, technology, business thinking, and customer experience to solve complex problems."

Dukes believes many organisations are already rethinking what good product design looks like. Rather than viewing design as a specialist discipline focused on interfaces or aesthetics, more businesses are recognising it as a strategic capability that influences customer acquisition, retention and trust.

"Different experiences lead to different questions," says Dukes. "And answering those questions creates criteria very specific to that market, leading to better-designed products."

Her own career has reinforced that belief. Having worked both as the only design lead on a product team and within multidisciplinary design teams, Dukes says each environment develops different strengths. "Working independently builds ownership and confidence," she says. "Working in a broader team challenges your thinking. People notice things you don't, bring different experiences, and ultimately help create stronger solutions than any one person could develop alone."

As South Africa reflects on youth career trajectories and the future of its digital economy, Dukes believes the country’s competitive advantage lies not in creating increasingly specialised design roles, but in cultivating versatile, strategic thinkers.

"The designers who stay valuable won't be the ones who fit neatly into one category," she says. “They'll be the ones who deepen their commercial understanding, who know how experience design drives revenue and retention, not just polish. AI has flooded the market with templated solutions that look right and perform poorly. The differentiator is a designer who can think past the template.”

Technology will continue to evolve. Customer expectations will continue to change. But businesses that understand people better than their competitors will always have an advantage.

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