Andrew Julius Bende

Background

About Andrew Julius Bende

Personal goal: Building Communities from the bottom-up through mobilizing, inspiring, and facilitating leaders, founders, and entire communities to lead in solving challenges. Utilizing my experience, hands-on skills, resources, and global network, with the belief that by exemplifying and facilitating community action, we become part of encouraging sustainable growth and positive leadership. Experience: Over 28 years in grassroots community development, civil society organizations, impact-driven business, global markets, internationalization, partnership brokering, business diplomacy, process facilitation, organizational development, change management, multistakeholder processes & Tech uptake. Approach: I am a socioeconomic, cultural intelligence gatherer and critical analyst. A think out of the box proactivist, and a storyteller that strives to simplify and build understanding around complex social dynamics to support grounded strategies and impact-focused actions. Growing up in rural Uganda and engaging globally, I build bridges and translate cultural artifacts focused on advocating for inclusive policies benefitting the marginalized & hard-to-reach. Founder story: I created my first startup (Real video library) in Kikoni - near Makerere University at 19 years, and across my years at the University. I employed three colleagues and later became the main financer of my second startup - an NGO called RISE Uganda. RISE Uganda, officed in rural Mayuge district in the East, aimed at pulling the most marginalized out of the HIV/AIDS grip. We quickly became a lead localization and most trusted partner in the region. Building programs across 11 rural communities within Health, Education, Agriculture, and Entrepreneurship. Moving to Denmark in 2009, I started Civil Connections IVS - that turned into Civil Connections Community Foundation (https://civilconnections.org/)- a Foundation in Copenhagen bridging grassroots communities into the development dialogue loop. Since 2018 (when founded), has implemented over 20 projects across Europe, Caucasus and Africa, employed at least 10, and raised over 40 million DKK. In mid-2022 I created Grassroots Allies (https://grassrootsallies.org)- an investment platform mobilizing resources/finances to support entrepreneurs in marginalized communities as a way of de-risking their access to life saving financing/capital. We are still writing this story, but you cannot miss one of our financed projects - RISE Mayuge Sports Foundation - https://risemayugesports.org/ Let's connect - andrew@civilconnections.org