What is GROW?
Investment tailored to entrepreneurs making a positive impact in East London.
A growing network of inspiring entrepreneurs are driving change in Barking and Dagenham. We’re guiding them step-by-step to develop the skills and confidence to take on investment and GROW their business in East London.
2025 applications are closed but you can still be a part of the GROW community. Register your interest in the GROW Circle.
Meet the Other GROWers
We back brilliant local ventures!
In 2023, 60% of applications were from Black-led ventures, and 70% from women-led enterprises. Everyone that took part was based in Barking & Dagenham.
Contact Jack to find out more.
Jack Webb
GROW Fund Programme Manager
The GROW Story
The GROW Fund was developed by residents of the borough with money transferred by the Council to BD Giving in 2022. Those residents spent months of learning about investment and sharing ideas about what they want to achieve for the borough. You can read more about their journey here.
They chose to develop the GROW Fund so the many business owners and entrepreneurs who call Barking & Dagenham home can create both a commercial and a social impact in the borough.
Everyone that applied in 2023 was based in Barking & Dagenham, 60% of applications were from Black-led ventures, and 70% from women-led enterprises.
Ten local business owners were selected to join the first GROW Fund in May 2023. They each received a grant and took part in a seven-month accelerator programme, covering everything a business needs to GROW sustainably.
Since then, two of those businesses have taken on social investment. Listen to Carole from The Boathouse CIC’s journey on the 9 Miles East podcast by clicking the image below.
Thanks to funding from Esmée Fairbairn, GROW will run from 2025-2027.
Sign up to our mailing list so you can be a part of it now.
Listen to our podcast to hear the story of the first year of GROW:
GROW Resources
Click the images below to learn more about GROW and social investment. If you have any questions, you can contact
Jack Webb, GROW Programme Manager.