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Bright Horizon: Building Skills for Life

CASE STUDY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP & STARTUPS
ET Cases, 8 Pages
AUTHOR(S) : Prof. Ekta Sinha, Faculty of Management Studies, G. Saraf College, Dr. Keith C. D’Souza - Professor, S. P. Jain Institute of Management & Research

Case Preview

Bright Horizon: Building Skills for Life

 

“Let’s do something that is really meaningful and would make a difference to the society, now that we have this opportunity.” This was Aiman with a great deal of earnestness. She, with her classmates Sharon and Kriti in the Social Entrepreneurship Post-graduate Diploma Program at a prominent management institute in Mumbai in 2010 were discussing different ideas and how they would execute the mandatory group project for their Post-graduate Diploma.

After long deliberations, they undertook a small survey among the principals and a few parents of the students of municipal schools, to assess the need and potential for life skills training vis-à-vis setting up a mobile library for underprivileged children. Based on the findings of the survey, they decided on their mission – educating underprivileged children in life skills, under the canopy, ‘Bright Horizon’.

The Entrepreneurial Journey

The association between Sharon, Aiman and Kriti had begun when they had met earlier during the year, under the Post-graduate Diploma Program in Social Entrepreneurship, at a prominent management institute in Mumbai. As part of their course-work, they took up a pilot project to help underprivileged children in the age group of 10–13 years in schools managed by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC – the body responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of Mumbai) with their education......

The Impact

At first, Bright Horizon catered to students of 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th grades, with the same set of life skills education content. They soon realized that what worked well for 6th and 7th grade students did not work for 4th and 5th grade students. Therefore, they decided to focus on 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th grade students, with more emphasis on basic life skills training through art, stories, and games etc.................

Future Scope

Running a social enterprise had been quite a roller-coaster ride for the founders, who dreamt of making Bright Horizon a one-stop shop for experiential learning for the holistic growth and development of all children. To keep themselves on their toes, the trio would constantly ask, “What are we teaching our children as a society and how much needs to be done to resolve conflicts in their little minds?”..............

Assignment Questions

I. Discuss the issues and challenges faced by a social entrepreneur in setting up an organization.
II. What are the problem(s) in the way of the growth and expansion of an NGO?
III. What are the issues relating to the structuring and running of an NGO?
IV. ..............

Exhibits

Exhibit I: Extracts from Reports on Life Skills Education

Exhibit II: Focus Areas of Life Skills Training

Exhibit III: Funds Received by Bright Horizon (in INR)

Exhibit IV: Organizational Structure at Bright Horizon

Teaching Note Preview

Bright Horizon: Building Skills for Life

 

Synopsis

This case study deals with how a group of social entrepreneurs went about setting up an NGO, Bright Horizon, to pursue their dream of transforming the lives of underprivileged children by imparting life skills education to them.

Bright Horizon consists of three college mates – Aiman, Sharon and Kriti, having diverse prior educational backgrounds, who formed a team while doing their post-graduation at a prominent management institute in Mumbai. They started this social enterprise mainly to satisfy their common passion to work with underprivileged children of Mumbai in the field of Life Skills education. For skills development, the areas of focus were communication, empathy, leadership, respecting differences, self-awareness, teamwork and community service.

Running a social enterprise had been quite a roller-coaster ride for the three young founders, who dreamt of making Bright Horizon a one-stop shop for experiential learning for the holistic growth and development of all children. To keep themselves on their toes, the trio would constantly ask, “What are we teaching our kids as a society and how much needs to be done to resolve conflicts in their little minds?”

They received their finances through donations and grants from Unlimited India, Development Bank of Singapore and a few other organizations. They also earned revenue that constituted 6%–11% of the total capital, by conducting training programs for teachers in NGOs and certain private schools. In addition, they received donations from the Rotary Club of Bombay1, Capgemini and Bombay Community Public Trust.

Case Positioning and Setting

This case study can be used for Masters’ courses in Business Management, for Strategic Management, Women Entrepreneurship, Organization Design, Organization Change and Growth – To discuss the issues of Women Entrepreneurship, Organization Structure and Life Cycle with specific reference to social development organizations and strategic decision making in the growth phase.

Assignment Questions

I. Discuss the issues and challenges faced, by a social entrepreneur in setting up an organization.
II. What are the problem(s) in the way of the growth and expansion of an NGO?
III. What are the issues relating to the structuring and running of an NGO?
IV........................

Case Analysis and Teaching Plan

The discussion on the case study was conducted under three broad related topics [Exhibit (TN)-I]. The classroom analysis of the case study was carried out by discussing in detail about each of the sections of the case study. However, for each of the three sections, the discussion hovered around an ‘anchor point of discussion’............

 


 1 Mumbai was known as Bombay till 1995

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Abstract


Bright Horizon, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), founded in 2012, works in the area of life skill education. The organization was instituted by three friends – Aiman, Sharon and Kriti – who met each other during their Post-graduate Diploma program, at a prominent management school in Mumbai. Considering the need of the life skill education among the underprivileged children, they started working with municipal and low-income group schools in Mumbai, under the canopy of Bright Horizon.

It was 3 years since the organization started functioning with a rudimentary organizational structure and a team of eight members and the Founders aspired to expand their area of work hence they decided to assess feasible options. However, there was a change in the personal status of the Founders even while they were considering the possibilities of expansion as each of them was married and moved out of Mumbai. This brought a set back to their expansion plans and two of the partners were of the view that the time was not right for expansion.



Pedagogical Objectives

  • To deliberate on the idea of women entrepreneurship
  • To understand issues and concepts relating to organization structure, design, and organization dynamics, with specific reference to NGOs
  • To introduce the concept of organizational life cycle
  • To give an overview of strategic decision making in NGOs

Case Positioning and Setting

This case can be used for Masters’ courses in Business Management, for Strategic Management, Women Entrepreneurship, Organization Design, Organization Change and Growth – To discuss the issues of Women Entrepreneurship, Organization Structure and Life Cycle with specific reference to social development organizations and strategic decision making in the growth phase.



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