In the 1990s, a thread of research emerged showing that organisations pass through three phases on their way to large dominant status. First, a firm or NGO starts as a grassroots effort.Perhaps a group of women in a village outside Oyugis desires to come together and find a solution for lack of clean water in their community. The women put their money together and purchase pipes to bring water out of a nearby river and onto their farms. Such an initiative clearly represents a grassroots type of effort.
Later, the women decide to expand and begin supplying water to neighbouring villages. To facilitate the expansion, they start to develop processes and procedures from everything, including client acquisition to collection of water usage fees. The women also begin to hire professionals to run the business. The nascent water company would then reach the professional stage of growth.
