Who We Are
At Grow, we believe every woman deserves the chance to thrive.
We specialise in supporting women who are furthest from the labour market — whether they’re returning after raising children, managing caring responsibilities, navigating trauma or change, or simply looking for a path back into work that works for them.
Our award-winning Grow Programme combines expert mentoring, flexible training, and real-world solutions that build confidence, increase motivation, and remove the barriers to employment. Whether delivered in person or online, Grow is designed with women at its heart.
Why Grow?
Because we understand women’s lives.
Many women face challenges that standard job support services can’t always address — from childcare and confidence to flexible work and complex personal needs. We take a different approach.
- We listen first. Our onboarding process uses voice-powered AI and one-to-one conversations to understand every woman’s unique story.
- We build confidence. Through group sessions, one-to-one advice, and interactive workshops.
- We offer real support. From writing a CV and practicing interviews to finding affordable childcare and applying for flexible roles.
- We speak your language. Our mentors speak over 10 community languages and understand the lived experiences of the women we work with.
Our Experience
We’ve worked with thousands of women from all backgrounds — single parents, carers, women with additional needs, those affected by domestic abuse, refugees, and women who have been out of work for many years.
We’ve delivered successful employability programmes both online and in-person across London and beyond. From running community-based workshops to building sector-leading digital tools like the Grow App, our experience lies in creating flexible, accessible, and genuinely life-changing support.
We’ve partnered with some of the biggest names in the employability sector as well as a wide range of community organisations and women’s networks. We’ve built a reputation for engaging women others find hard to reach, and for delivering practical, personalised support that works.
Professional
We’re an award-winning training and development organisation that specialises in building confidence, motivation, and employability skills for mums, advisers, and employers.
Passionate
We’re passionate about making women of all backgrounds and circumstances feel valued and resilient and to help them use their transferrable skills to return to work.
Expert
We know how to build womens’ confidence, raise their aspirations, challenge perceptions of their barriers to work and encourage them on a new and positive path.
Our Expert Team
Grow is trusted by a wide range of employment providers, charities and local authorities across the UK.
Our team includes experts in employability, women’s support, careers, safeguarding, and mental well-being. Our team of trainers and mentors all have lived or professional experience in the issues that affect women most.
Khatera Ahmad MIEP
Khatera was formerly a participant on the Grow Programme and a strong ambassador for women who are refugees. She understands the challenges many mums can face when starting their journey, and especially so if you are also a parent of children with additional needs. Khatera runs Grow’s SEN sessions and applies her understanding, knowledge and experience in her work on the GRoW App, with knowledgeable guides, top tips and expert advice.
Heather Ette FIEP
Heather, our Marketing and Communications specialist, brings over 35 years of experience — including a decade working within the employability sector. She specialises in crafting motivational and inspirational messaging that resonates with women at every stage of their journey.
Saeema Yusuf MIEP
Saeema joined GRoW in 2018 after being a full-time stay-at-home mum for 15 years. She’s now an award-winning member of the Grow team, recognised as Frontline Adviser of the Year 2022 at the ERSA Awards. Saeema is a role model for other mums on the GRoW programme and provides long-term support to women, specialising in helping BAME women improve their English, education, and training before finding work.
Kaneez Fatima MIEP
Kaneez joined Grow in January 2020 supporting women in the London Borough of Newham into work. Kaneez finds her work as an employment adviser to be incredibly rewarding and fulfilling to help women, especially those who are furthest from the labour market, to achieve their job goals. A former Grow participant herself, and mum to three children she understands the techniques that work. Kaneez won the Rising Star Award at the 2024 Quality Professional Awards.
Liz Sewell FIEP
Liz is a determined and highly professional opinion-former with over twenty years’ experience in employability programmes. Her expertise is in delivering tailored support to women to develop their confidence, motivation and employability skills. The GRoW App and the Grow programme, have been recognised as ERSA Award Winners and Liz was also awarded for her Outstanding Contribution to the Sector at the ERSA 2022 Awards.
Liz is a powerful contributor to the employability sector, a regular panellist at the IEP Summit, author in the IEP Journal, an ERSA Board Member, a former Director of the Institute of Employability Professionals, a former Chief Executive of the lone parent charity Gingerbread, and was Chair of Trustees at the Welfare Rights Charity LASA for over a decade. She is regularly invited to give evidence to policymakers such as the Work and Pensions Select Committee, and most recently at the IES Roundtable led by the Commission of Future Employment to discuss the support disadvantaged women need to move into and sustain work. Liz was made a Fellow of the IEP in 2016.
Mercedes Grant FIEP
Mercedes is a graduate of one of Belina’s first employment programmes and is Grow’s self-employment specialist with a specialism in confidence and motivation building. She has a diverse background in a range of fields including banking, call centres, hairdressing, beauty therapy, Linguistic Programming, Early Years Teaching, and Sports and Remedial Massage Therapy.
Michelle Grenada-Bryan MIEP
Michelle found her passion for helping others through her work at Grow. She brings valuable skills and experience to her role as an Employment Adviser, specialising supporting people with neurodivergence into employment. Having previously worked in the Ministry of Justice, her own experiences as a jobseeker with multiple barriers to employment allow her to empathise with her clients and provide tailored advice, boosting confidence to help them move forward in their careers.
Sheeja Sethumadhavan MIEP
Sheeja, a former Grow participant, has a strong work background in the IT sector. She speaks six community languages and as an Employability Support Worker works with people from diverse backgrounds. Sheeja’s content on the Grow app focuses on CV advice, guidance and employability articles in a range of languages focused to the needs of different participants.
Iryna Sydorova AIEP
Iryna joined the GRoW team in 2024 and supports women to move into work, training, or education through a combination of online and in-person sessions. Having built a new life and career in the UK after arriving from Ukraine in 2022, Iryna brings valuable lived experience to her role. She helps women grow in confidence, understand the UK job market, adapt their existing skills, and explore new opportunities, offering tailored support and encouragement at every step.
Reciprocity
At Grow we offer our time, energy and empathy first, so that others feel comfortable to respond. Reciprocity is such a fundamental human instinct that it breaks down barriers and people feel much more comfortable to participate.
Celebrate
We celebrate what people achieve, the micro-wins and and big life changes. We ask people to share their successes – to hear how they changed their lives and what made a difference. It is an affirmation and inspiration in one.
Make it Easy
If you want people to apply for a job – make it easy.
At Grow we do the heavy lifting and curate the job search so they can see the jobs they want to see.
We get the links on their mobile and offer individual support.
Get Creative
At Grow we help people to think in different ways so that they can start to develop new ways of seeing the world.
Our approach helps our participant to go from just a mum to Supermum in one activity.
