The Art of Social Entrepreneurship: Dakshina Chitra and Madras Crafts Foundation (MFC) in India

Authors: Branzei, Oana; Mehrotra, Sonia
Source: Richard Ivey School of Business
Year: 2012
Company Name: Madras Craft Foundation
Number of pages: 17

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Abstract:

This case embeds and embodies the knowledge and practice of social entrepreneurship in India's culture and customs. The case traces the milestones along a 26-year history of a social entrepreneur creating a social enterprise, Madras Craft Foundation (MCF). The story leads up to a three-decade retrospective on the role social venturing plays in our own lives and in society more broadly. Based on the entrepreneur's critical reflection, the case shows how the paths of the social entrepreneur and the social enterprise became closely interwoven over three decades. As MCF had become self-sufficient for three years running, the very success of the social venture precipitated an existential dilemma as to whether, when and who could or should succeed the founding social entrepreneur whose love for South India's arts, crafts and culture had become inseparable from MCF and its best known offering, Dakshinachitra. The case unpacks the revenue generation model by tracking every extension to the personal and professional affinities and affiliation of the founder who "effectuates" a social enterprise that mirrors her autobiography - and vice-versa. Akin to Bollywood-style longing and completion, how one "becomes" a social entrepreneur is by working to bring their deepest dreams to life: a social enterprise is realized through dreaming and doing. The case also showcases the interdependence between the social entrepreneur and the social enterprise - their co-"becoming" over almost three decades. The analysis makes apparent previously hidden links between the founder herself and her venture, and challenges the artificial divide between social entrepreneur and social enterprise. It also provides an opportunity to discuss what is alike or different in social entrepreneurship (vis-a-vis traditional entrepreneurship).