Abstract

In 2013, Achyuta Samanta, a noted educationist and social entrepreneur, was busy refining his plans to expand the operations of one of the much-acclaimed institutions he had founded in 1993, the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), beyond Odisha to other parts of the country. Samanta was touched by the plight of the tribal population in Odisha as this group remained marginalized despite the Indian government having constitutional safeguards and welfare schemes for them. The tribals often did not have access to even basic rights such as education, and this left them open to exploitation. Samanta started KISS in Bhubaneswar (the capital of Odisha) for educating tribal children as he contended that only education could get the tribal communities out of the vicious cycle of poverty. Besides formal education, the institute provided accommodation, food, healthcare, study material, clothing, and vocational training to the students — all totally free of cost. The institution grew to become the world’s largest residential institution, helping to educate more than 20,000 tribal children till 2013. Samanta used the high tuition fees he charged students of KIIT University to fund KISS. As of 2013, Samanta wanted to concentrate on replicating the success of KISS in other districts of Odisha and other states in the country.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• To understand and explore ways in which a social entrepreneur can build a sustainable business in developing and emerging markets -- especially with respect to serving the BoP population -- while addressing some of the most pressing issues confronting the
• To study the initiatives adopted by KISS for the mainstreaming of the marginalized tribal communities through holistic education.
• To critically analyze the model adopted by KISS for the uplift of the marginalized Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) population

Keywords

Social entrepreneurship, Inclusive business model, Hybrid business models, Social innovation, Bottom-of-the-Pyramid, Sustainability, Double/triple bottom line, Corporate social responsibility, Strategic philanthropy, Community development, Mainstreaming marginalized communities, Tribal empowerment, Education, Vocational Training, Scaling up