Ernesto Sirolli wrote the book ‘Ripples from the Zambezi’ much of the
work and philosophy of the Sirolli Project is documented in this book, it
is a totally obvious and easily understood analysis of what works and
what doesn’t when it comes to assisting people make more of
themselves. It’s so simple: you facilitate them to do it for themselves in
their own way at their own pace. We might help them discover the
way to put in place the elements needed to run a business but we
never impose ourselves, we do not judge the basic business concept
nor do we take ownership or make any decisions - that is for the
potential entrepreneur and it is his or her decision alone.  The story of
the hippo simply illustrates this fact by relating the story of when an
Italian Aid Agency funded the growing of tomatoes on the banks of
the Zambezi. They grew successfully of course, probably the biggest
and best tomatoes ever, but the hippo’s came and ate the crop when
it ripened rather than allow the ‘expert’ solution to happen - any of
the local people would have said this would result - had they been
asked.... So, that’s what Sirolli projects are all about really and it is
what makes us so different.  We don’t have ideas as to what the
potential entrepreneur’s in our communities should be doing, or want
to do, we leave that to them entirely - it’s their idea, their skill and
their passion alone. We help them achieve their goals by bringing our
experience and contacts, indeed whatever it is they need we will help
them identify that need and perhaps more to the point we will use

our resources and contacts to help find a solution.