The Multiplier was a gift. Bring it back

By Ola Fagbohun

This was an emotionally hard article to write because The Multiplier programme ended suddenly in 2023, and I still don’t know why. The way it ended hit me personally and financially. I have to be honest and upfront about that. That said, what follows isn’t about how it ended. It’s about the gift it gave me, and why the model needs to continue.

Being part of The Multiplier programme gave me something that most leadership, accelerator, and business support programmes rarely offer: space.

Space to think.

Space to grow.

Space to be. No pitch decks.

No Dragon’s Den. No “what’s your five-year money-making plan?” The programme offered something else: trust.

That trust was built into the process, starting with a simple and quick application, followed by a grant given without strings. Throughout the programme, there was no need to submit cumbersome, extractive reporting spreadsheets.

It also didn’t try to give me off-the-shelf methodologies, trying to convince me I needed to twist myself into someone else’s idea of what an effective leader looks like.

It’s About the Internal Work

Over seven months, I had the space to do the internal work, the kind that often gets pushed aside when you’re a founder dealing with the day-to-day realities of building something: bookkeeping, cash flow, chasing collaborations, getting your name out there, and basically keeping the lights on.

Like many, I had little time for this internal work. I joined The Multiplier hoping to explore how to show up authentically, how to work intentionally and in a relatable way with others, and how to help people do the same when working with me.

Because it’s famously known that people don’t buy products and services, they buy people. They buy us.

And yet that kind of visibility takes more than strategy. It takes grounding. Especially when, for some of us, visibility is a very tricky thing. We are often overlooked, ignored, and expected to keep explaining and justifying our very existence before our work is taken seriously.

Doing the internal work helped me understand how to respond to that. How to stand in my values, speak with clarity, and build on my terms.

In that way, the programme was more than support, it was a gift of time, reflection, and reset.

Finding My People

In 2023, I was one of 15 Multipliers from different parts of the UK, running different types of organisations, with different life experiences and ways of working (N.B. I also commend the wonderful Cares Family team members who supported, coached and nurtured us all).

Being on the programme was both scary and exciting. I found myself bracing, not knowing what this programme was about, whether I’d fit in, or what I’d get out of it.

We started online and slowly made connections. A few months later, we met in person. It didn’t take long to realise we hadn’t only built a connection. Maybe we were lucky, because something deeper was happening.

And that was trust.

Deep trust. The kind of trust that grows quickly when you’re with people who value you without explanation.

I said things in that group that I haven’t said to many outside my inner circle. We challenged each other. We encouraged each other. We laughed. We went off-script. And there was real play, the kind where I felt safe enough to invite my inner child into the room.

Even now, two years later, our conversations and interactions nestle deep in my bones. What a gift!

The Grief and the Gift

When The Cares Family and its programmes, including The Multiplier, ended, it hurt, personally and financially. Many of us went into a kind of mourning. It wasn’t dramatic. It was honest.

Because grief doesn’t only arrive when someone dies. It also arrives when something rare and meaningful is taken away. And that’s how I feel about The Multiplier programme. Because it changed me, and I miss it.

That said, I’m still in regular contact with a few from my cohort. We communicate often. We share ideas. We remind each other who we are, where we’re heading, what we want, and how we plan to achieve it.

And while the people I met will always stay with me the most, I often turn to the resources and recordings, especially in difficult times.

I really miss being a Multiplier. And I mourn the missed opportunity for others to experience what I did. A programme that gave so freely, and held so firmly, to the idea that our humanity is central to our work.

It wasn’t transactional. It was a gift.

Bring It Back!

So while I mourn the loss of the programme, I will always celebrate all it gave me. It lives on in how I lead, how I support others, and how I carry myself through my work. It gave me something I haven’t found anywhere else. And I feel that absence every day.

And I know I’m not the only one. Programmes like the Multiplier are essential if we want more leaders who show up with authenticity, compassion, confidence, and care.

That is why I’m using this article to call on those with the power, resources, and influence to create space for programmes like this, space that centres care, authenticity, and humanity.

So, let’s have more Multiplier programmes where others can experience what I did. Because, as founders and as people who lead organisations, we need space:

To pause.

To connect.

To grow.

To be.