Hope Home: early childhood education for social change
Publication date: 6 December 2019
Abstract
Learning outcomes
This case is to familiarize students with the peculiarities of social enterprises (SEs). They would be able to recognize that SEs are hybrid organizations that merge a social purpose with the managerial logics of business ventures. Because of this dual nature, social entrepreneurs need to balance their social aim and the financial viability of the project when analyzing different ways to grow the business, as well as understand and address internal tensions that arise because they have to deal with diverse stakeholders. At the end of the analysis, students would have clear that social and commercial ventures respond to different logics, and therefore, require different managerial models.
Case overview/synopsis
Andrea Meoño was the founder of Hope Home, a center for early childhood education in San José, Costa Rica. The goal of the center was to provide education and daily care to children of disadvantaged families, especially single mothers for whom it was a real challenge to maintain a permanent job to sustain their children, and at the same time, provide them with adequate care and attention. After five years of operating the center, Andrea had to figure out the best way to grow her business, ensuring financial sustainability while keeping true to her original purpose of helping vulnerable mothers by providing their children with excellent educational opportunities.
Complexity academic level
Master’s and Master of Business Administration students taking a course on social entrepreneurship.
Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Subject code
CSS 3: Entrepreneurship
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was possible thanks to the financial support of Mastercard. Authors are particularly thankful to Kattia Montero, Gabriel Balzaretti, Luz Gomez and the members of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, without whose support this research would not have been possible. Their commitment has been crucial for the professional and personal development of women entrepreneurs in Central America and their communities throughout the region. The authors are also thankful to the colleagues of the Center for Collaborative and Women’s Leadership at INCAE Business School for their support during the research project.
Citation
Benetti, S. and Zúñiga, R. (2019), "Hope Home: early childhood education for social change", , Vol. 9 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-05-2019-0104
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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