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The case is structured to achieve the following learning objectives: ■ to assess how an intuitive response to social need can be complemented with a methodical approach to social entrepreneurship; ■ to analyse the importance of business model canvas from the social sector lens; ■ to evaluate the value created by a small NPO 17000 ft Foundation; ■ to analyse the core elements of a business model for success in the social sector; and ■ to assess and evaluate the options for an early-stage NPO to engage in scaling for a systemic impact.

17000 ft Foundation (hereafter referred to as 17000 ft) is a not-for-profit (NPO) organisation incepted in 2012 by Sujata Sahu, with the objective of supporting education of children living at high altitudes in remote villages of Ladakh, India. It is an effort that contributes toward objectives of clause 6.1 on educational inclusivity in the new National Education Policy 2020 of India. The case study is set in the context of Indian education, with all its challenges. It describes how Sujata Sahu was motivated to start the Foundation and how it developed to become a complex organisation working on different education-related projects simultaneously. The Foundation’s business model is interesting and unique. It leverages digital technologies to develop a network of interconnected activities, involves local communities and uses an extensive network of different kinds of stakeholders to impact a change in the quality of education in government schools in these remote villages. The case provides a solid basis for the discussion of the vital role of NPOs such as 17000 ft (in emerging economy) which is creating social and economic value for the remote villages of Ladakh, India. The new NEP 2020 argues for equity and inclusivity in education for all, but it failed to provide a blueprint for the implementation process. On the other hand, 17000 ft with its small team was invested and experimental in its approach. It had been working on the same cause of educational inclusivity. They had piloted a quality education business model for the harshest and remote Indian terrains and proven its positive impact. What were some of the core elements that had led them to success so far? The announcement of NEP 2020 provided a new ray of hope. How could they contribute and work together with the government to impact inclusive education and development in India? What collaborative mechanisms could possibly help them replicate their proven business model across the 1,000 schools of Ladakh and beyond? How could they scale for a systemic impact? After all, a nation as big as India required multiple strategies and multiple stakeholders from NPOs, private companies, government agencies, educational institutions, etc. to work collaboratively to bridge the inclusion and equity gaps in education.

The case can be used in graduate and executive education courses in entrepreneurship and strategic management. It can also be used for executive sessions at incubation centres for NPO start-ups and is aimed at early-phase social entrepreneurs.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Strategic management.

The case is suitable for undergraduates, MBA, and executive MBA courses.

This case on Satya Bharti School Program, an initiative of the Bharti Foundation, highlights the journey, achievements and challenges faced during the implementation of a noble vision. The case maps the strategy implemented from multiple vantage points and aims to show how the compelling need of providing quality education in rural India transformed the way people look at corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.

The case analysis aims to help students comprehend and understand: the concept of corporate social responsibility; the strategic decision-making process amidst constraints in the context of not-for-profit organizations; how organizational excellence models are embedded to improvise practices and processes; the concept of the multi-stakeholder framework; and how external and internal issues can affect the success of a CSR program.

Teaching notes are available; links to videos are provided.

Social entrepreneurship, Social enterprise.

Masters Programme in Social Entrepreneurship, Social Work, Business Administration; Management Development Programme for Social Entreprenuers.

Organisation for Social Change, Awareness and Responsibility (OSCAR) Foundation is a non-profit organisation registered in 2010 under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950. Born and raised in the slum colony of Ambedkar Nagar, Cuffe Parade, Ashok, the founder, grew up seeing his friends becoming a victim to many socially inappropriate behaviours due to dropping out of school. Inspired by the thought of breaking this vicious cycle, Ashok used football as a mechanism to instil essential life skills among children and youth and encouraged them to continue their education. The success of his pilot motivated him to set up OSCAR. Presently, through its various programmes, the organisation has reached out to more than 3,000 marginalised children and 500 youths and aims to reach out to 20,000 children by 2020. The case highlights the struggles of Ashok’s entrepreneurial journey and maps the new challenges in scaling up his enterprise.

The expected learning outcomes are as follows: to identify the characteristics of a social entrepreneur and ascertain the leadership skills required by a social entrepreneur; to scrutinise the life cycle of a social enterprise and develop insights to examine the unique risks and challenges faced at the start-up phase of the social enterprise; and to enhance the understanding of interrelationship between passion, mission focus and challenges to attain financial sustainability for a social venture.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

To write this case, several research methods were used. Most importantly, field interviews were conducted with employees at Banati foundation. The interviews were held with three different employees at different points in time, including the marketing manager, the executive manager and the head teacher working with the girls at the foundation. These interviews helped provide details regarding the foundation’s culture which is hard to get from secondary sources. In addition to this, one of the researchers was a volunteer at the foundation for 6 months before starting this research and so had strong background knowledge on the workings of the entity. Finally, secondary sources were used to provide accurate historical information and numerical statistics. These sources included the foundation’s website and annual reports as well as newspaper interviews with the Banati’s Chairperson.

This case poses the marketing dilemma faced by Banati Foundation, a non-profit organization (NPO) based in Egypt. Banati has offered child protection services to girls at risk since its establishment in 2009. In particular, the case focuses on the foundation’s strategy and operations in 2020. Since its inception, the foundation has been led by the main founder, Dr Hanna Abulghar. Under her leadership, the foundation flourished and won several international awards. The foundation became a home, a school and a support system to the girls who were once homeless. Yet even though Banati succeeded in improving the lives of many girls at risk, the foundation still sought ways to sustain its funds and to empower the girls to thrive after they left the foundation. As the key person responsible for setting the foundation’s direction and strategy, Dr Hanna faced marketing challenges that include overcoming social stigma, diversifying the donor base and increasing fundraising.

This case is suitable for undergraduate and Master’s students who already have an understanding of the basic marketing principles such as the marketing mix (4Ps)/market segmentation and have taken an introductory marketing course previously. Furthermore, the case presents an opportunity to apply marketing concepts such as segmentation, targeting, positioning and promotion within the context of social and NPO marketing. It is ideal for students studying social marketing, NPO marketing strategy, cause marketing, fundraising techniques and social inclusion.

Leadership, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship.

This case study is intended for undergraduate and graduate levels.

This is a leadership case about Agnes Jean Brugger, founder of the A.J. Brugger Education Project (also known as the A.J. Brugger Foundation (AJBF)) in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. It is the story of how and why she and Chris Berry co-founded this unique non-profit foundation in tandem with Piedras Y Olas: Pelican Eyes Resort (PEPO) in the late 1990s. The case focuses on how her identity and values shape the origins of AJBF and how the organization evolves in the context of the Nicaraguan and Anglo-American cultures. “Devoted to assisting Nicaragua through education and development of one of the country's most valuable and treasured resources: its young people”, the vision for AJBF was a cutting edge socially conscious venture that grew to meet the needs of the community that had captured Jean's heart and mind. The case ends in early 2009 on the precipice of the biggest economic down-turn the US economy has experienced in recent history. Standing at the edge of this cliff, Jean contemplates the numerous successful accomplishments of the foundation, while reflecting on the many leadership and organizational problems she, as Founder and Chair of the Board, faces.

The case will help participants to: evaluate and discuss leadership effectiveness, identifying responses to opportunities and challenges; explain cross-cultural identity from the Globe Study model and how it impacts organizational interactions; explore successful models of cross-cultural leadership through the lens of gendered theory; explore the ways in which social entrepreneurship can be seen as an extension of socially-minded leadership; describe how socially-minded entrepreneurship is different from traditional forms of entrepreneurship; describe social identity and evaluate its impact on leadership; and discuss the rich historical and community context that influences interpersonal and organizational dynamics.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or e-mail support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Social implications are as follows: social activism; girls education; collaboration; collective action; and change agent.

Learning outcomes are as follows: evaluate the role of a change agent in a nonprofit organization; understand collaborative partnerships in a nonprofit organization; examine how a nonprofit organization is promoting education in conflict-affected countries; understand the importance of education for girls as a basic human right; understand and discuss the threats to girls’ education in conflict-affected countries; analyze the role of Malala Yousafzai in supporting girls’ education globally; identify the challenges unique to educating girls; and explore steps that Yousafzai needs to take to ensure girls have equal access to the knowledge and skills they need to learn and lead in a world affected by the pandemic and climate change.

The case discusses social activist Malala Yousafzai’s (She) diligent efforts to promote girls’ education in conflict-affected regions globally through her not-for-profit organization Malala Fund. Co-founded in 2013, Malala Fund worked to ensure every girl globally could access 12 years of free, safe, quality education. The fund worked towards this goal by building creative partnerships and investing in its global network of education activists and advocates fighting for girls’ education in communities where most girls missed out. Malala Fund supported girls’ education programs in countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, India, Brazil, Ethiopia, Turkey and Lebanon. The Fund’s projects were aimed at addressing gender norms, promoting the empowerment of girls through education, imparting gender-sensitive training for teachers and raising awareness about the need for girls’ education. In 2016, the fund created the Education Champion Network to support the work of local educators and advocates to advance.

Post-graduate level students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS 11: Strategy.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to analyze the driving forces that lead non-government organizations (NGOs) to develop need-based programs; to evaluate the strategy adopted by NGOs in attaining the organization’s mission and creating a social impact, corporate social responsibility, inclusion, labor market, social enterprise, strategy and vocational learning; to apply social business canvas for analyzing the business model deployed by NGOs to develop market linkages; to analyze the challenges in setting and scaling NGO programs and strategies designed to address the same; and to enable students to brainstorm in creating future growth options for scaling up and replicating NGO programs.

The case describes the journey of Salaam Bombay Foundation (SBF), a national-level NGO registered in 2002 in Mumbai, India. In March 2020, SBF had an annual budget of INR 13.98 crores (US$1.84m). It addresses the challenging environments children from economically constrained families face by engaging them in continuing school education and providing vocational training. Since its inception, SBF has launched and executed many in-school and after-school programs. To successfully transit skilled adolescents and teenagers into the labor market and help them make informed career decisions, SBF launched “DreamLab,” a stipend-based “internship” model, in August 2018. Gaurav Arora, Vice President SBF, was assigned the responsibility to scale up skills@school and DreamLab internship programs. With disruptions caused by the pandemic in March 2020, Arora struggled to operationalize DreamLab as initially planned. The case is at a crucial decision point where clouds of uncertainty have made Arora and his team anxious about their future course of action.

The case is intended for students of undergraduate and graduate programs in Business Management, Social Entrepreneurship and Social Work programs. Executives of management development programs can also use the case to analyze the effectiveness and management of the skill development program.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes of this case study are to identify the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in social upliftment of developing countries, understand the functioning of NGOs, understand the challenges faced by the NGOs in day-to-day operations and discuss the probable solutions for the same, appreciate the role of leader and leadership in an NGO, study the working style of NGO leaders, appreciate the importance of having a formal organizational structure for these informal organizations (NGOs) to ensure the sustainability of their ventures and design a sustainable organization structure having a proper succession plan for the NGOs.

The case study is about one NGO – Mahesh Foundation – located in a small town named Belagavi, nestled in the state of Karnataka, India. Mahesh Foundation worked towards the upliftment of poor children infected with HIV. Today, fighting against all odds, Mahesh Foundation is a safe shelter home for 45 HIV-infected children in the age group of 6–18 years and has reached more than 2,000 beneficiaries from the time of its inception (2008). In addition, Mahesh Foundation also provides skill-based education to the HIV-infected, slum and underprivileged children. The foundation also supported the livelihood of underprivileged women and till date has supported more than 1,500 needy women. Mr Mahesh Jadhav, the founder member of Mahesh Foundation, has been successful in overcoming different challenges faced by the NGO, may it be the requirement for funds or shelters or social agitation. However, Jadhav was worried about the succession planning of his organisation. Mahesh Foundation, being run as a one-man show, Jadhav was bothered about its sustainability after him. The case study therefore highlights and discusses the importance of having a formal organization structure for such informal organizations, thereby having a proper succession plan to ensure their perpetual existence.

This case study is best taught as part of a graduate and postgraduate Business Administration (BBA/MBA) programme, Management Development Programme or Executive MBA Programme.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

This case describes the talent management practices of Kaivalya Education Foundation (KEF), a social sector organization that works in the domain of school education. The two year Gandhi Fellowship (GF) program run by KEF takes urban youth from the best graduate colleges in the country and creates a cadre of change leaders that will work to bring about social change in the nation. The GFs undertake a rigorous, hands-on journey through the two years that is transformational in many ways.

This case study introduces students to the core characteristics of social entrepreneurship by teaching Santos (2012) positive theory. The case allows students to transition from comprehension and application of what social entrepreneurship is, to considering how they operate. Druckers (2005) argument that social organisations will never have sufficient resources to do their work because they operate in an environment of infinite need is the catalyst for a conversation on resource dependency theory and the risks of mission drift. Students are introduced to the funding spectrum that can be used to understand the type of income that comes to an organisation, and to apply this to the case. By the end of their studies, students should be able to apply the Santos (2012) definition to social enterprises and social entrepreneurs, have insight into the complexity of operating in an environment of infinite need and able to apply the funding spectrum as a tool to manage to understanding financial sustainability.

The case tells the story of Sharanjeet Shan, a globally recognised social entrepreneur, and recipient of the Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2015. Shan moved to South Africa as the country moved into democracy, and has spent the past 20-plus years building the skills of Black African school children in mathematics and science through the organisation she leads, Maths Centre. But the country remains at the bottom of world rankings for the quality of its maths and science education, despite spending more per capita on education than any other country in Africa. Maths Centre has seen a dip in donations despite steady growth in the amount of money that businesses are investing in social change in South Africa through corporate social investment. But does Shan really need more donor income? Or are there other ways that she can build the financial sustainability of Maths Centre?

This case study is aimed at students of non-profit management, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, women in leadership, corporate social investment, development studies and sustainable livelihoods. It is written at an Honours / Masters level and is therefore also appropriate for use in customised or short programmes. The case study is a good introduction for students with a background in business (e.g. Diploma in Business Administration / MBA / custom programmes) who are wanting to understand social enterprise and apply their learning's.

A list of supplementary materials is provided in the Teaching Note as Table I, which includes video's, radio interview recordings and a book chapter.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.