Barry Childs grew up in Tanzania, the son of a British agricultural adviser. After graduating from the University of Kwa Zulu Natal in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, he moved to the UK. A successful career in corporate management, including spells at oil giant Exxon (UK) and healthcare company Abbott, took him to from the UK to Germany and the USA. His business experience was in multiple functions leading to a concentration in organizational development and total quality management. In 2000, he decided to take early retirement from corporate life and devote the latter part of his career to humanitarian projects to improve life prospects for those on lowest incomes in Tanzania, the country of his childhood. After several years of team building, research, piloting income generating activities and psychosocial interventions, he developed the AfricaBridge model to transform the lives of most vulnerable children.