What can you do with £125k? Work with 260 entrepreneurs, create 550 new jobs, and improve the lives of 17,500 people

What can you do with £125K, pay for an MBA in London, including living costs for 2 years, a big house deposit, or numerous holidays! At Grow Movement we have done something amazing...we have transformed the business performanc of hundreds of micro entrepreneurs in Uganda, Rwanda and Malawi.

£125K is the full operating costs of Grow Movement since we started at the end of 2009, and has enabled us to work with 260 entrepreneurs through our programme, create 550 new jobs and improve the lives of 17,500 people. Incredible numbers for such a small budget. 

We are able to do this through the hard work and dedication  of our talented local team in Uganda, Joshua and Grace, Sophie and Willie in Malawi, and Eric in Rwanda. Our global team of volunteers who enable us to do this at such low cost  by providing their time, energy and business skills pro bono over Skype and phone.  Big thank you to the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), London Business School, Cass Business School, Imperial Business School, Westminster Business School, and the Management Consultancy Association who work with us to raise awareness of our volunteering opportunity with the member,s students and alumni. 

Welcoming our Community Managers

Since we started with humble beginnings in 2009 with just 10 volunteer consultants we now have a global team of over 300 across all continents with 180 active at anyone time, increasing to 500 for 2014. Feedback from our volunteers has been around wanting to feel a greater part of Grow Movement and to have contact with others in their region for shared learning. Continuous improvement is a key value of Grow, so we have listened and now welcome our regional Community Managers. Their role is to connect with the existing volunteers in their area, build community engagement and offer additional support to our In Country Managers. Their offer their time on a volunteer basis as well as acting as volunteer consultants for Grow. Thank you for your time investment in Grow and our African entrepreneurs. 

Craig Harrison, USA          americas@growmovement.org

Craig is managing the Americas region; including our volunteers in Canada, USA, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and now Panama. He is passionate about making organisations work better. His can-do attitude is informed through experience in research and development, IT and management consulting as well as degrees in science, theology and business.  He has served as a consultant for the Grow Movement since 2011, most recently working with the high end fashion House of Tayo in Rwanda to develop an innovative marketing plan to prepare the company for international expansion. Through a variety of roles with non-profits, both as a board member and volunteer, Craig has actively explored how sound business practices and market approaches can improve the lives of people in developing countries.  He believes that good business is beneficial to society, involves generational thinking, is careful with the environment and leads to a better quality of life.


Janet Curran, UK       europe@growmovement.org

Janet is managing the European volunteer team. She has a background is in training and consulting; she has spent 9 years working for the global sales training consultancy Huthwaite International, researching and teaching effective sales and marketing skills in every continent, so she is well versed in cultural differences. Prior to working at Huthwaite she was self employed and ran a small gym so has hands on experience of the challenges of setting up a small business. She also has a PhD in retail marketing. She was drawn to Grow because of her experience delivering training in Africa and welcomed the opportunity to take up a mentoring and support role as a Community Manager. Janet lives just outside Sheffield in the UK. and when she is not working enjoys spending time with her teenage boys, cycling and walking with her Alaskan malamute dog and taking an active part in her local community.

Gurpreet Singh,  Asia and Australia asia@growmovement.org

Gurpreet has been volunteering with Grow Movement Uganda since 2009. He worked with the Future Learning Center in Kampala; a teaching, publishing and learning center for young people and is now working with Manna Cafe and University Restaurant in Malawi. He has an academic background; running science labs in India, has a PhD in Chemistry and lectures between Mongolia, India and Poland 2009