Our Journey
Free To Grow (FTG) was established in 1994 as a training organisation specialising in the design and presentation of lifeskills programmes focused on entry level workers, where the biggest need for empowerment and personal transformation existed during that time.
Over the years our contribution in organisations broadened to add value at both staff and leadership levels. This enables us to positively impact the wellbeing, growth and performance of individual employees, the standard of leadership and the culture in organisations, areas we are all passionate about.
Alinda Nortje, founder and CEO of Free To Grow, shares our philosophy of changing lives.
Our People
Free To Grow offers a space in which our staff, consultants and facilitators can live their purpose in a way that is aligned to their personal values and that fully utilises their capacity and potential. We strive to create an environment where they experience that they belong, grow on a personal and professional level and are given the opportunity to help shape the organisation, contributing to its success and growth.
Facilitators: We have Free To Grow accredited facilitators in Gauteng, Kwazulu Natal, Free State, Western & Eastern Cape. The diversity in our facilitation team enables us to effectively address needs across all levels in organisations.
Consultants: Our team of consultants, many of whom have C-Suite experience, have the skills to shape and implement solutions appropriate to our clients’ needs.
Our Founder
Alinda Nortje is the founder and Executive Chairperson of Free To Grow.
After graduating with a BA (Hons) in social work at the University of Stellenbosch in 1978, Alinda gained valuable experience in understanding and meeting people’s needs in her role as a social worker. It was while doing community development on farms in the Boland that she became aware of the dire need for a personal empowerment programme that would be accessible to people with an educational backlog. She set out to design such a course herself over a four year period, incorporating the feedback of hundreds of participants into the course design. Due to the outstanding impact of the programme, Alinda developed the vision to make it available to as many people as possible.
Today, Alinda is a leader in the field of Employee Engagement with more than 30 years of experience in the facilitation of learning. Her work has taken her across Africa to Asia and the Middle East, where she has been personally involved in designing large-scale organisation-wide Culture Change and Engagement projects. Alinda’s passion for people, empathy and authenticity enable her to easily connect and build rapport with people across cultures and job levels, making her an excellent facilitator, a role she still relishes.
Gifted with an innovative mind, and an innate ability to connect with others, Alinda has designed all of Free To Grow’s programmes and regularly presents at national and international forums on the topic of engagement.
Our Values
Our values are at the heart of who we are, what we do and how we do it.
Our Learning Methodology
Free To Grow is an expert in the design of learning programmes. Through 30 years of experience and research in this field, we have developed a methodology that helps people, on all job levels, to understand, remember and apply what they have learned. We make learning ‘stick’!
In the design of our programmes, we draw from Neuroscience (how the brain functions), Adult Learning Principles (what makes learning exciting, meaningful and ‘sticky’ and Psychology (how individuals and groups behave). Click here to read more
Our Footprint
Our work has taken us to 35 countries, the majority in Africa and the Middle East: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Dubai, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
We have worked on smaller projects with clients in: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Guernsey, Singapore, Uzbekistan and Vietnam,
South Africa: We have Free To Grow accredited facilitators in: Gauteng, Kwazulu Natal, Free State, Western & Eastern Cape.
International: Representatives in Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria and Zambia.
Our Clients
Examples of organisations who have implemented our programmes on either a large scale or over an extended period of up to 25 years are:
Our Impact
Ensuring impact on people, culture and bottom-line creates a positive return on investment (ROI) for our clients. Here is some evidence of our contribution to our clients:
Case Studies
RCL Chicken DO MORE for the accelerated development of high-potential women
Staying Strong – an emotional vaccine for Mediclinic Newcastle
CCBSA – Growing a culture of Ubuntu
PABOD Breweries boosts its bottom line through employee engagement
Video Clips
Leadership Keys to Re-emerging stronger – by Jo Thomson
Knowledge workers share their experiences of Free To Grow programmes
The impact of our programmes on Frontline workers
Florence Lekalakala – HR Business Partner at CCBSA Devland’s experience of working with us
…and a whole lot more on the
Free To Grow YouTube channel
