George Bryson

A Social Enterprise Capacity Builder with 5+ years’ experience in leading projects supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and driving organizational business development. Specific focus on hands on development of practical organizational strategies, fostering change culture using behavioral psychology principles, investment readiness and triple bottom line impact measurement. Managed and worked in diverse teams across Africa, Europe, North America and Asia. Designed and delivered over 1,000 hours of training workshops with social enterprises, facilitating access to over $1m in local currency blended finance.

• Adelphi GmbH - Uganda Green Enterprise Finance Accelerator (Jan 21 - Dec 23): business advisor to over 70 green enterprises providing both pre- and post-investment support. Trained six cohorts of green enterprises to create high-quality business documentation and investment plans prior to accessing commercial loan finance. Supported enterprises to raise approximately $1,000,000 in local debt finance. Assisted enterprises in managing the change process following loan disbursements.
• Mastercard Foundation – Entrepreneurship Index and State of Entrepreneurship report for Uganda (Sep 2023 - Current): project lead for the pilot phase of a multi-year longitudinal study exploring the health of entrepreneurship by collecting data with 3,000 MSMEs. Coordinating a multi-organization team of over 20 members across Uganda and Kenya to execute the project. Developed the study’s analytical framework and authored key reports.
• Welthungerhilfe - Feasibility study for the Project “Female-driven Social Enterprise towards Zero Hunger in Uganda, Kenya and DRC (Sep - Nov 23): project lead steering a team of consultants across the UK, DRC, Kenya and Uganda identifying potential improvements to a proposed two-year capacity building intervention. Designed research tools, consulted stakeholders and integrated findings into a comprehensive final report. Developed a pipeline of over 200 suitable female-driven social enterprises across the three countries.
• SHONA/Biovision Foundation - Market Study of Agroecology Enterprises in Uganda and Kenya (Jan-Jun 23): coordinated a team of analysts to identify, screen and assess high potential agroecology enterprises across Uganda and Kenya prior to launch of SHONA’s Neycha Accelerator. Designed an innovative approach to sourcing and vetting enterprises. Analyzed and reported on data trends across 55 participating enterprises to identify technical assistance and investment needs.
• Water and Energy for Food Nexus - Development of a strategic marketing plan for Tulima Solar (Sep 22 - Jul 23): designed and steered implementation of a comprehensive research plan. Created value proposition canvases, empathy maps and customer journeys. Developed strategic documentation and KPIs to accompany new strategic direction.
• Global Green Growth Institute - Capacity Building Training for ‘Catalyzing Solar Home Systems (SHS) market: Policy and Strategic Interventions (Sep 21 - Jun 22): Project lead of an international team delivering tailored training and capacity building support for (1) Centenary Bank staff members; and (2) 25 Ugandan Solar Home System companies. Designed and delivered training content and documented training reports for client approval.
• Feed the Future – Partnering for Innovation - Distribution and Marketing Support to Women-owned enterprises in Uganda (Mar-Dec 20): Managed a team that performed extensive information gathering to ideate realistic short- and long-term marketing and distribution strategies for a yoghurt producer. Enhanced Farm Reap’s data driven decision making, introducing tools to track production quality and reduce erroneous financial losses. Since our intervention, Farm Reap’s revenue has doubled, and the organization has been able to access multiple grant opportunities.
• SafeHands for Mothers - Utilizing Solar Media Players for Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Education (Nov 19 - Oct 20): Evaluated the technology needs of Village Health Trainers through deployment of a field research team. Designed research tools, identified technology suppliers and oversaw a pilot intervention field-testing the technology with over 200 youths in rural Uganda.
• UNCDF - Uganda Solar Energy Association Business Development Services Hub (Jan-Jun 19): Research analyst for a feasibility study to understand the ability of the Uganda Solar Energy Association (USEA) to be a central hub of capacity building services for its members. Quality assured analysis of junior associates deployed in 38 member companies of USEA to identify appropriate structure for pilot training program.

Hub Collective: Give A Day and Ecosystem Mapping: From Census to Consensus (December 20th 2022)

Uganda Green Enterprise Finance Accelerator: How is UGEFA supporting green SMEs in Uganda? (May 4th, 2021)

Next Billion: How Investors and Energy Providers Can Unleash Growth in Uganda (December 13th, 2019)