Grow Movement has been awards £1300 grant from eBay Foundation's employee-volunteer led Give team which empowers employees to support their communities through volunteerism and employee sponsored grants. Funds will be used to fund 5 women retail entrepreneurs in Malawi through the Grow Movement programme.
"the eBay Foundation was established to reach beyond the boundaries of eBay's virtual village to develop strong communities that bring people together, " said Lauren Moore, Executive Director of eBay Foundation. "Through our GIVE teams, we've been able to identify and support a wide variety of outstanding programs, that feed families in San Francisco, educate children in India and assist seniors in Germany to name just a few. We could not be happier to add to our list of beneficiaries the Grow Movement and its efforts in Malawi to build entrepreneurship capability with female retail entrepreneurs".
Grow Movement will invest in the future of 5 female retail entrepreneurs just like Naomi in Malawi. Watch her video here and read her case study here!
Tuesday, 3 March 2015
#uganda600 launched at London Business School
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| Mark Neild Chairman |
Starting in June 2015, 600 entrepreneurs in Kampala, Uganda will start working with 600 Grow Movement Consultants. Three of the Worlds most renowned business schools; London Business School, Booth School of Business Chicago and Stanford will evaluate the impact of virtual consultancy on key social and economic indicators.
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| Prof Naufel Vilcassim |
Professor Naufel, the principle inspector on the impact evaluation, spoke about the academic shift in focus from lack of access to financial capital to lack of managerial skills in finance, marketing and strategy which lead to micro businesses not growing and developing. He noted that very little academic research has
been done into this area hence why he was interested in
determining if the Grow Model actually works.
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| Claire Jenkins CEO |
Claire Jenkins, CEO spoke to new and existing volunteers asking for help with recruiting additional volunteers to support the evaluation. Claire is asking all consultants to 'volunteer a peer' for #uganda600. 600 new consultants are required by June 2015!
If you have a business peer that you think would enjoy and benefit from this experience and has 6 months available from June 2015 then please contact researchproject@growmovement.org
Norway, and Holland supporting Kigali Sanitation in Rwanda!
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| Jean Claude talking to Wouter and Himanshu |
Jean Claude Ntakirutimana, a serial entrepreneur and long term client of Grow Movement runs Kigali sanitation LTD, a cleaning
company which collects waste from Homes, offices and Public areas. Obsessed
with business that brings about positive environmental impacts, Jean Claude
continued to think out of the Box. Last year, he came up with a great idea of recycling of electronic hardware including computer which after refurbishment would be sold at a lower price to lower income earners especially in remote areas therefore promoting technology
in less affluent sections of the community.
As you can imagine, this is a very
ambitious Project which not only requires large Capital investment but also various technical and managerial skills.
Jean Claude tried
different funding options; one of them is FONERWA (a groundbreaking environment
and climate change fund). FONERWA is always open to funding environmental
friendly projects in Rwanda provided that they come up clear documentations
describing how their projects are feasible and will achieve intended outcomes.
Two of Grow Movement European Volunteers,
Wouter verster ( a Finance and CRS Professional with many years of
experience) and Himanshu Ardawatia who is our current European community
manager stepped up to help Jean Claude with such a demanding proposal. Wouter
is playing a key role in making sure that the financial numbers are
accurate and that the comments that came out of the
previous review by FONERWA team are further clarified.
Eric, Rwanda Country Manager says "We are also grateful to both Wouter and Himanshu for investing their time and knowledge in making sure everything is ready according to FONERWA requirements. We are keeping all our fingers crossed for Jean Claude. If this project goes through, it will be yet again another amazing case study of how Grow Movement is inspiring entrepreneurs achieve dreams they wouldn’t have been able to achieve otherwise. Grow Movement team is extremely proud of Jean Claude for making the final phase of such a stiff competition."
Recruiting clients in Rwanda
Grow Movement has gone walk about! Eric and the Grow Movement Rwanda team have spent the last couple of months on a new way of recruiting clients. Typically our clients from entrepreneurship training courses from our partner organisations. Ever the innovator Eric wanted to try something new, to reach out to entrepreneurs that Grow would not normally meet. Loaded with flyers, business cards and client videos loaded onto an IPad the team went on a recruitment drive talking directly to shop owners in Kigali city. Last week the team hopped on buses to South and Western provinces visiting new and potential clients. Grow Movement is still very new in Rwanda so this was an important awareness raising exercise. Language still remains a key challenge outside of Kigali which is the main city with the biggest English speaking community. Grow look forwards to welcoming our new clients in the near future!
Welcoming Judith Oyella to Team Uganda
Monday March 2nd we welcomed Judith Oyella to Team Uganda. We are all excited to have a new sister in the Grow Movement family. Judith has a degree in Business Administration and Management and a passion for computers. Previously she has volunteered with Alliance for African Assistance, an NGO working with displaced person in Northern Uganda, as well as being a key leader in her local Catholic Church as a Zonal Leader. She has 9 years of experience in the Field of Finance and Administration.Judith will be working alongside Mohammed and picking up many of the projects that Grace Akullo used to run after her 2 week induction.
Monday, 2 February 2015
Building Grow Movement In Scotland
During 2015 Grow Movement plans to build on the unique relationship that exists between Malawi and Scotland by increasing our presence within the business and volunteering community. Jeremy Roebuck, Scotland Country Manager attended the Scotland Malawi Partnership meeting in early January, held in the magnificent Nelson Mandela Room at Edinburgh's City Chambers. In attendance were representatives from the Scottish government and a number of agencies with an interest in promoting Scotland's historic links with Malawi. A number of interesting contacts were made including one potential Grow Movement volunteer with an expertise in promoting tourism. All delegates expressed sadness when updated on the latest news following the recent flooding. At the next meeting delegates will discuss the creation of links and systems to help businesses in Malawi export to Scotland with a specific focus on Coffee.
Working with the Open University Business School MBA Alumni
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| Grow CEO with Jacqui Thomasen Open University Business School |
Since meeting with Jacqui Thomasen, the Senior Manager for External Engagement the OU has advertised the opportunity on their Careers Service website, LinkedIn Page and twitter account.
Grow Movement is looking forwards to welcoming more Open University MBA Alumni to the volunteering team.
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