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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.

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.

Master’s and Master of Business Administration students taking a course on social entrepreneurship.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship