What is GROW?
Investment tailored to local businesses making a positive impact.
Join a growing network of inspiring local entrepreneurs who are driving change in Barking & Dagenham, get a £10,000 grant, expert training and social investment opportunities.
No prior experience with investment is needed – we’ll guide you step by step as you develop the skills and confidence to take on social investment and GROW your business.
Interested?
GROW Fund 2025 will launch at 19.00 on 24 April, at The Boathouse Studios in Barking. Find out more about the launch.
Check out the resources
Click the links to learn more about GROW Fund and social investment. If you have any questions, you can contact Jack Webb, GROW Programme Manager.
Meet the Other GROWers
We’re already backing ventures like yours!
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..
Thanks to funding from Esmée Fairbairn, GROW will launch on 24 April 2025 and we’ll run it for two further years.
Sign up to our mailing list so you can be a part of it now or in future.
