Santa Clara University

Social Entrepreneur Case Studies

"The GSBI™ is a working laboratory, alumni successes and failures are documented through case studies, these lessons are incorporated into the program and shared through the World Wide Web." - Jim Koch Executive Director

International Development Enterprises India '06

The GSBI™ is committed to the success and sustainability of the social entrepreneurs it serves.  Case Studies are an effective way of identifying opportunities and threats, highlighting best practices and stimulating further innovation and impact.  This work contributes to the growing body of work on social enterprises, highlighting key focus area for the incubator, promoting successful social enterprises, and helping them scale.

B2Bpricenow.com
GSBI™ - 2006
Attendee: Edgardo Herbosa

B2Bpricenow.com provides an accredited mobile e-commerce (“m-commerce”) platform that supports “cashless” buying and selling of goods for rural farmers using cell phones. The online system is implemented using partnerships, which include cooperatives, agricultural and commercial banks, microfinance institutions, and corporations, particularly Unisys (a part-owner of the business). The system has grown rapidly to become prevalent among rural farmers in the Philippines, with more than 9,000 users. The company is profitable, and is reinvesting its surplus in growing the business within the Philippines and into Vietnam with consideration being given to growth in other regions, including Africa.

Digital Divide Data
GSBI™ - 2004
Attendee: Mai Siriphongphanh

Digital Divide Data (DDD) provides data processing and high school equivalency training for disadvantaged youth in Laos and Cambodia. The data processing training is used as part of an outsourcing business for the school that provides earned income. The program also provides job placement for its graduates with pay rates more than six times the national average. The company’s rapid growth in the number of beneficiaries (from less than 100 to nearly 1,000 in four years) and their success in job placement (over 95 percent) has helped DDD gain significant funding from the Skoll Foundation.

Drishtee
GSBI™ - 2006
Attendee: Satyan Mishra

Drishtee provides information kiosks to village entrepreneurs in India that are used to create an e-commerce marketplace. Drishtee was recently identified as one of the fastest growing high tech companies in India by Deloitte-Touche citing a three-year revenue growth of 1,187 percent.  Drishtee provides a distribution platform for more  than a dozen products, from e-learning and e-government, to low-cost reading glasses, e-health, and market linkage services. As of 2008, Drishtee implemented  approximately 1,000 franchise kiosks, by 2010, it hopes to grow to 10,000.

International Development Enterprises - India
GSBI™ - 2006
Attendee: Suresh Subramanian

IDE-India provides drip irrigation systems, which have helped empower more than 200,000 poor rural families, enabling them to progress from subsistence agriculture to small-scale commercial farming.  This begins an upward spiral out of poverty. With an average family size of five, IDE has helped to lift more than a million people out of poverty. Families that use its low-cost system can increase their incomes tenfold. Its two-tier incentivized distribution model was refined in the GSBI™.

Thamel.com
GSBI™ - 2006
Attendee: Bal Joshi

For in-depth case studies on past GSBI participants click below (opens as pdf)

Freeplay Foundation

CFM Health Stores

VisionSpring