Social Entrepreneurship - The Alicia Polak Way

            
 
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Case Details:

Case Code : LDEN045
Case Length : 10 Pages
Period : 2004-06
Pub Date : 2007
Teaching Note :Not Available
Organization : Khayelitsha Cookie Company
Industry : Food Products
Countries : South Africa

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This case study was compiled from published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. Nor is it a primary information source.



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"Alicia Polak's idea was created in Africa and at the moment is quite small, but we could grow the idea and if it works it can be replicated in many other places."1

- Ian MacMillan, Director, Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center, Wharton School of Business, in 2006.

"It (Khayelitsha Cookie Company) is not making me any money yet, but I still feel incredibly lucky at the end of my working day. And not many people get to say that!"2

- Alicia Polak, Founder, The Khayelitsha Cookie Company, in 2006.

Introduction

In August 2006, Business 2.03 published a list of '12 most intriguing business opportunities in the world.' In this list was one of the opportunities of 'Becoming a social entrepreneur in South Africa,' which referred to former Wall Street investment banker Alicia Polak (Polak) and her venture Khayelitsha Cookie Company (KCC). The company was based in Khayelitsha, a poor township in South Africa near Cape Town (Refer to Exhibit I for the 12 most intriguing business opportunities in the world).

In the year 2004, Alicia Polak founded KCC, a company which sold its branded cookies to several hotels and restaurants across South Africa.

Leadership and Entrepreneurship Case Studies | Case Study in Management, Operations, Strategies, Leadership and Entrepreneurship, Case Studies

KCC employed women from Khayelitsha to bake, pack, and sell the cookies. Polak started KCC as a social entrepreneur, who wanted to make money out of this venture and at the same time improve the lives of the poor women of the township, who worked for the company. According to James Thompson (Thompson), Associate Director of Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, "You might say, 'They're just cookies,' but she's teaching people skills in a very poor area.

And there's no reason this brand can't be big in America and Europe."4 (Refer to Exhibit II for more information about Khayelitsha). KCC was a part of Wharton's Societal Wealth generation program (SWGP), which was established in early 2006 (Refer to Exhibit III for details of the Societal Wealth Generation Program). The program aimed at addressing social problems through entrepreneurial business models. The projects established under SWGP included an animal feed project and healthcare projects in different countries in Africa. According to Thompson, "That project is a microcosm of what the Societal Wealth Generation Program - and the spirit of entrepreneurialism - can accomplish."5

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1]  "Creating a Sustainable Business among South Africa's Poor 'One Bite at a Time,'" Knowledge@Wharton, Wharton School of Business, The University of Pennsylvania, July 12, 2006.

2] "Says No To…," Glamour South Africa, November 2006.

3] Business 2.0 was founded in 1998 by Chris Anderson and James Daly. The aim of the magazine was to 'Chronicle the rise of the New Economy.' The magazine published articles related to technology and economy and gained instant popularity. In the year 2001, the magazine was acquired by Time Inc.

4] Paul Solan "Doughing the Right Thing," Business 2.0 Magazine, August 01, 2006.

5] Tim Hyland, "Change, Through Business," Penn Current, www.upenn.edu, June 08, 2006.

 

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