There is something fishy going on #volunteer #Uganda #entrepreneur

George is an entrepreneur in Uganda. I had the honour of meeting and spending time with him in December 2013. Having worked previously as a slaughter house manager he wanted to see what he could achieve and make a path for his future. He spotted a commercial opportunity for a fish sauce that was without bones so that it could be fed to young children.

When he came to Grow Movement his business was just a concept. He was matched with Sean Clancy a procurement director from London, UK. Together they worked on refining the recipe and the manufacturing standards. George now supplies local restaurants and supermarkets with his product and is fully employed in his business.

I met Sean Clancy on my return to London and presented him with some fish paste sauce sent to him by George. See the photos of Sean eating his product! Sean freely talks about the motivation and self satisfaction he had from working with George. Sean freely says that he learnt more from George than George would have done from him.

For me, it is an honour to have met both George and Sean. George has a natural and infusing sun shine spirit; to have spent time with him was a real honour. Then to meet his volunteer consultant, Sean who was as touched and motivated by the experience as George was, well what can I say?! I have the best job in the world. We make a difference to both volunteers and entrepreneurs.

Eric Iyraemye applies to Young #African #Leaders Initiative #Rwanda #YALI #volunteer #entrepreneur

Having led global teams in both Tesco and BT I have had the pleasure of nurturing graduate talent. As part of Grow Movement expansion plans we have recruited some real talent into the team. 
Eric Iyaremye arrived to the Rwandan team in 2013 as an exceptional graduate from a scheme called 'Generation Rwanda'. He is a gifted young African with drive, creativity and integrity who in his first 6 months has been a driving force behind our achievements.

It was both my pleasure and that of our Trustees to write him  references this week for the  'Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders'. The Washington Fellowship is the new flagship program of the President's young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). This program will bring over 500 young leaders to the USA for leadership training, academic course work and mentoring, and will create unique opportunities in Africa to put those new skills to practical use in propelling economic growth and prosperity.

Eric the Grow Movement team, the Board of Trustees and the Rwandan Volunteer Consultants and Clients are wishing you lots of luck in your application.

The challenges of #Retailing in #Uganda, #Rwanda and #Malawi

 Five hundred entrepreneurs from Uganda, Rwanda and Malawi will be joining our program in 2014. This will be our biggest year since we started in 2009. Of these clients many will be in the Retail sector, either selling from a shop front or via an extensive network of family and friends from their home or office.

Unlocking the talent of these entrepreneurs by sharing skills from  our global volunteer team has huge potential to create jobs in their communities .  Sharing knowledge on daily record keeping, different types of price promotions from 'Twofers', to 'Bogofs' to 'BHPs' and focusing on customer research into products that they would like to buy can make a real and tangible difference to business performance.  Providing this insight and experience has been invaluable to Evelyn who runs a cosmetics shop in Blantyre Malawi. With her consultant James they focused on which products were selling well. They carried out a full invenotry of all all of her stock realising that the majority of her sales were coming from 25% of her product. By running promotions on hair weave stock that was not selling well she was able to provide more space for the South African lotions  that were selling far better at a higher margin. This enabled her to increase her profits by 10%.

By investing your time in our entrepreneurs, building their business self confidence and sharing ideas you are able to make a real fundamental difference

Powerful & Inspiring Female #Entrepreneurs of #Malawi #womeninbusiness

Our Malawian female entrepreneurs are an inspiring group. I am amazed at what these women achieve. Running a business is impressive enough, these women often run 2, or 3 whilst having a full time job,and being a Mum not just to their own children but to other orphaned children as well. The commitment that these ladies have to their families is incredible.

Meet Grace, she is a Mum, as well as a full time secondary school teacher, running two businesses. She has started
a tailoring company and a nursery school. Her tailoring business she runs from her home, employing local tailors to make school uniforms. Working with her British consultant, Ashwin, they focused on the cost of her selling trips around Malawi, increasing her market and record keeping. She recently set up a nursery school in the area, when her niece had no where to send her daughter. Together they helped to create one additional tailoring job and 25% increase in profits.

Meet Chikondi. She works full time and is a mum. She also runs a guest house, is building a second one from the profits of her first, and is also running a bar restaurant in Blantyre, Malawi. With the help of her British consultants Tope and Joby she increased her profits by offering commission to local taxi drivers. She is now going live with a website in the New Year.

Spending time with these entrepreneurs I am amazed at how hard working they are, and what they manage to achieve whilst having so many additional responsibilities. To then take on an additional task of working with a Grow Movement consultant for 3 months and the extra work that that entails just impresses me beyond belief. These women are incredible and I am so proud that Grow Movement has the opportunity to be partnering with the National Association of Business Women (NABW) to support their businesses and enable them to create more jobs in their community.

Claire Jenkins CEO Grow Movement

#Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world #Nelson Mandela

'Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world'  is a favourite quote of mine and is a real personal belief. With the passing of Nelson Mandela, and spending time with our school entrepreneurs in Malawi this quote has become even more poignant. It makes me very proud to run an organisation that has this ethos at the heart of what it does, just one phone call at a time.


Primary school education became free in 1994  in Malawi, so prior to my visit I was not clear on the market opportunity in private schools. Talking with our school entrepreneurs, I became aware that the issue was around quality of education and future employment opportunities.  A shortage of qualified teachers, class sizes which in certain areas can be over 100 and limited geographical reach has created a market for private schools here. Local primary education is completed in the local Malawian language of Chewa, with English being taught as a secondary language. Parents seeking better employment prospects for their children prefer subjects to be taught in English. another reason driving the private school market.

Payla, Sophie Kumwanje, Claire Jenkins

Payla is a Grow Movement client, who had a British consultant called Ben. Together they worked on advertising Palma springs Private School school after it moved to a new rural area far from a local road. Payla was encouraged to go on TV, put posters around the local area, offer free classes to local students and send children home with information on the school to share with friends. Transport was the next issue. With no funding for a bus to pick the children up, and a 30 minute walk from the local road, Ben suggested talking to local bus companies to offer the service at a reduced price. Being situated near 2 rivers was a problem for local parents, so 2 play ground supervisors were employed. Local micro businesses have also sprung up in the area including doughnut and Samoa sellers to the children at lunch time In total, 9 new jobs were created from the consultancy work carried out by Grow Movement.

World change starts with educated children, it also starts with empowered entrepreneurs with the right tool kit to run their  businesses.  Grow Movement helps to do this...one phone call at a time.

Claire Jenkins CEO Grow Movement 

Can an #American help an #African #entrepreneur? #dogood #giveback #philanthropy #cause #volunteer

Skype usage in Malawi is more limited that our other countries. It is more rare for our entrepreneurs here to have ever seen their consultants using technology as compared to Rwanda and Uganda. On my recent trip to Malawi, Naomi used Skype on my iphone to meet Allison for the first time after having worked together for 6 months.  It was great to see the reaction and excitement on both sides. Here Allison talks about her experience as a Grow consultant. Claire Jenkins CEO

Allison Morton Grow Consultant

Yesterday, I had the privilege of meeting my client, Naomi Kuluwani, “face-to-face” on Skype. After working together extensively on her retail business this year, it was a great pleasure to finally see each other and an equally great experience to get a small tour of her shop.

Naomi, retail entrepreneur

Naomi is a very inspiring entrepreneur. She owns several businesses, but she and I worked together to turn around her retail company, where she sells food and non-food essentials to locals in the city of Blantyre, Malawi.  When we started, there were many topics on the table – some normal in retail businesses (competition, pricing, and cash management) and some specific to her environment (currency volatility). With my experience in consumer goods and finance, I was able to consult her on some key topics – such as building financial statements, writing a business plan, managing inventory, and even developing marketing and promotion strategy.

Naomi and her best clients

It was apparent that Naomi’s shop had great potential as a residential hub for buying food products. One of our first assessments was to look at her inventory and analyze the profitability of each product. From there, we made a plan to promote, keep, or let go of certain products in her inventory. We also determined, through talking to customers, what products were in demand but not yet available at her shop. Through this, Naomi learned that her customers were, indeed, interested in more fresh food and meat products, which made sense to pickup near their homes and on their path to and from work. With this information, Naomi could make the decision to invest in equipment to stock and keep meat and chicken. Since then, her profits have increased by 30% and she’s hired one additional person!

Girl power in Malawi

I felt deeply honoured to work with Naomi. It takes great courage for anyone to start a business in a challenging economic environment, and I am inspired by Naomi’s passion, friendliness, and open-mindedness. As a consultant, my goal was to understand the details of her business and also get to know the person behind the business. Only with the knowledge of both could I provide a quality level of service at such a distance. (I am an American living in Germany.)

I couldn’t be happier to finally meet “face to face” and to see that all the hard work is paying off for Naomi!

Rare sighting! Down under #skype #consultant goes over to #Uganda

Rare sighting a VC and entrepreneur together

Many of our clients and entrepreneurs build up great relationships over Skype but very few rarely have the chance to meet face to face. Sam Durland from Australia managed to meet Kalissa his client in Uganda. Big thank you to Sam for showing such commitment to the vision of Grow Movement. With your time, skills and passion we help create change, one phone call at a time! Claire Jenkins

Mr Kalissa

Recently, while in Africa on other business, I took the opportunity to visit my Grow client in Uganda, Mr Kaliisa Stephen. His company, Semuliki Traders Company (SETRACO) Ltd, is based in the Bundibugyo District in the west of the country near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The company is a start-up agribusiness with interests in maize, coffee, cassava, and chickens, and marketing of local produce. Starting in 2007, Kaliisa began purchasing land in the rich Rift Valley and establishing the various crops using local resources and labour. In 2012, the company obtained a long-term lease over a local market from the District Council. He is currently in discussion with the Council about resurrecting an abandoned fish farming operation that is based on Council land.

Sam Durland

I spent five days with Kaliisa touring his various projects, and meeting local officials, extension workers and business people, and discussing the best way forward for his business. Kaliisa is a most impressive young man. From a very modest village background, he completed an IT Diploma, and for several years conducted a successful small business in this sector. However, it became obvious to him that there was enormous potential in primary production, especially if he could mobilise local people to utilise the ideal growing conditions that prevail in the area to grow food crops to satisfy local demand, while also providing a local market facility for these and other cash crops. In Kaliisa’s mind, as well as generating a return to its shareholders, his company should provide a demonstration effect, showing local people what can be achieved with local resources.

Mr Kalissa

My role as a Grow consultant was to help Kaliisa to develop detailed strategic and business plans. While that role has concluded, I continue to work with him to focus the business on those areas that will generate an early cash flow to underpin the further development of the enterprise. My concern has been that the business was diversifying too quickly, and that without sufficient focus (and finance), there was a risk that none of the company’s diverse projects would thrive. Better to concentrate initial efforts on chicken farming, where there is strong local demand for meat and eggs that is currently being satisfied by imports from outside the District, and where early returns can be achieved.

In summary, my visit to Uganda was personally and professionally most rewarding and I believe of significant value to the client. As a consultant, I have always felt that I had to get to know the client’s business intimately, in order to provide the maximum value in my professional services. What better way than to spend a week in his or her shoes living the business!

Sam Durland

Consulting Plus Pty Ltd

Wollongong, New South Wales

Australia