The case study is based of secondary data collected from verified sources. It includes work done by Zahra Restaurant who has impressively managed to work as an NGO as well. Building a brand and valuing its goodwill is not easy. Zahra has successfully done a social service by their self generated money. It has also used crowd funding method to get more outcomes of their social service program.

1. CASE STUDY: Sumbul Atique
Zahra Foundation, Lets Serve February 20,
2021
STRUCTURE:
I. Introduction
II. Weaving success: The evolution of Zahra
• About the brand
• Vision
• Expanded from one to many
III. Resources & responsibilities
• Social Responsibility: Empowering marginalized
• Financial Management
• Future of Zahra
IV. Conclusion
V. References

2. I. INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurship is the process of establishing a practically viable business
model on the grounds of an innovative concept. It is the emergence of a new era
by way of research and development. An entrepreneur is not an ordinary
businessman. But, he/she is someone who introduces a new idea, technology or
product to the world.
For this case study, I will be examining Zahra Foundation and Zahra Restaurant
& café. The organisation is working tirelessly for the last four years to provide
free education assistance to the underprivileged. The business grew up in Delhi
by 2 students during their first year of graduation. Its vision & mission focusses
on the small-town life and landscape around it. I picked this company because
of its values, approach, and creativity.

3. II. WEAVING SUCCESS: THE EVOLUTION OF ZAHRA
Zahra Foundation is a humble yet noble initiative started by two College best
friends, Mohammad Saif and Javed in the year 2014 during their first year of
graduation. Around 2016-2017 it was then joined by Shaghil Iqbal, Qasim
Khan, Fahad Masood Farooqi, Saif Ahmed, Venkatesh Khatri and other friends.
In a course of five years, it has seen tremendous growth. And from the initial 20
children it had in 2014, the number has grown to 500 children enrolled in Zahra
Educational centre-I by the year 2020.
Team Zahra has selflessly been working tirelessly for the last five years to
provide free education support to the underprivileged children living in the
slums of Batla House, Okhla, New Delhi. In the last five years, team Zahra has
provided free education support to about 500 children who hail from the
socially and economically marginalized background. All the children come
from families where parent’s major concern is to get two-time meal rather than
thinking of education for their wards. Densely populated areas, like the slums
where these kids live have no resources even for basic sustenance. Conditions
are so poor and supply so scarce that students and parents barely have the
motivation to even think of education.
In addition to this, watching their parents struggling for money and living the
life of daily struggle have made these kids more interested in earning at the
earliest rather than giving time and attention towards education.

4. ABOUT THE BRAND:
The very seed of Zahra Foundation lies in the belief that it is as important to
give as it is to receive. Zahra Foundation’s philosophy also envisioned the fact
that education is the most important tool in poverty eradication and empowering
the poor and downtrodden and everything that is a hindrance in the way of
education and empowerment needs to be addressed and solved.
We working tirelessly for the last four years to provide free education assistance
to the underprivileged children living in the slums of New Delhi. Now we are
committed to expand our services in various other fields and serve the society
selflessly, in every possible capacity.

5. VISION:
“To provide education assistance to the underprivileged children.”
The name is holding much importance. Zahra in Arabic means a flower. Hence
not only is it beautiful, but also innocent. With the start of the education centre
they are working with children who do not deserve their present condition and
by working towards bettering their lives, they also want to keep them innocence
intact.

6. EXPANDED FROM ONE TO MANY:
The NGO needed funds to grow effectively and efficiently. They came up with
the idea of evolution of a restaurant. The organization is now established as
several outlets in New Delhi.
Question: Why did you open a Café?
Owner: Once the education centre was active, we knew that any full-time job
that we take up is going to interfere with this work. Also, Javed and I always
wanted to do something in the food industry, it always intrigued us and with the
upcoming café culture there was a certain glamour that we associated with it.
However, we see it in a totally different light now. We were able to go ahead
with our plan because we did not spend much time in planning and
overthinking. Our optimism and enthusiasm helped us get things done quicker
than we had imagined and the first outlet of Zahra Café was opened in August
2017.

7. III. RESOURCES & RESPONSIBILITIES
In 2014, Saif and Javed both clandestinely took to social work after college
hours and offered remedial classes to the children living in the slums of Okhla’s
Batla House area, an area where most of the people are daily wage earners and
labourers, rickshaw pullers, rag pickers, or house maids. It was tough for the
duo to convince these people to send their children for extra classes, since most
of the children helped the parents economically to sustain their families.
However, the parents came around when they were promised iftar (the meal
with which Muslims break their daylong fast in the holy month of Ramzan).
They were promised food in lieu of sending their children to Saif and Javed for
two hours. The first education centre that the two young men came up with was
a small room, near the Batla House graveyard; but with the numbers growing
there was need for a larger space. Mr. Ansari the proprietor of Sugra Public
School[2] (in the same locality) allowed them to use his infrastructure for their
education centre after the duo approached him to let them use his school post its
working hours. Since then, the iftar distribution drive became a regular thing
and the education centre came to be known for the exceptional work that it was
doing.

8. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: EMPOWERING MARGINALIZED
Food is obviously integral to everyone, in every form. Since venture food has
been the binding factor. Initially it helped in taking the parents of students in
confidence. When promised to help and provide for food. During the food
distribution drives that were done in the beginning the packets were numbered
due to limited funds. Started paying from their own pockets. Those who were
left out and did not get the packets of food went back disappointed and that also
made them realize the added weightage of hunger. So, the perspectives changed
and they developed concept every time they step out in the field. Now, Zahra is
serving people with food in café, and in turn that is empowering to help other
people.
Question: Managing the foundation, and running the education centre and the
café simultaneously is a lot of work. What keeps you going?
Owner: All that we have achieved in such little time and how it is fulfilling our
vision is extremely rewarding. When we see the then and the now of the children
we started working with, how their personality has developed over the years and
academic performance has improved, it is such an energy booster. 3 girls whom
we helped academically in the beginning, appeared for their standard 12 exams
and graduated with flying colours, and have now joined the other members of our
team at the education centre as teachers. Another young boy is a manager at one
of our cafés, and three others are working with us as support staff. They are
earning and supporting their families and it is small victories like these that keep
us motivated. Our students participate in various activities at different platforms
and have been a part of many initiatives. The children whom we have taught help
us in packing the food boxes for the iftar distribution drives; they earn their
rewards, making them feel responsible. It is overwhelming to see how food has
established a symbiotic relationship between us. Zahra Foundation is a trusted
name in the community now and parents approach us all the time to mentor their
children even when the seats at our education centre are full.

9. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
The average cost per student for educating a child is just Rs 300 per
month(approx.). We are in search of people who can sponsor the education
expenses of all or some students. We are currently accepting donations for
sponsoring the education expenses of the children on an instalment basis of 3
months, 6 months, 9 months or 12 months. Budget proposed for the period
between April 2019 to March 2020 for the total of 400 children-
Line Items Unit Rate Amount
Curriculum/teaching aids 1 5,000 60,000
Running cost for centres 1 5,000 60,000
Honorarium to Tutors 15 5,000 9,00,000
Scholarship/gifts for bright
students 5,000 60,000
Honorarium to Supervisor 2 3,000 72,000
Travel allowance for Supervisor 2 1,500 36,000
Student exposure visits to
college 2 5,000 10,000
Celebration of National Events 3 Events 15,000 45,000
Unforeseen Expenses 5,000 60,000
Total 13,03,000

10. Question: Do you accept funding from sources outside your business earnings?
Owner: The restaurant and the cafés are funding the education centre and our
business expenses completely right now, but we do run deficits sometimes since
there is so much going on. The earliest food donation drives and education centre
activities were paid from our pockets till the time our work wasn’t out in the open,
but our friends and family have supported us in exemplary ways. Currently we
have two regular donors who give the foundation a fixed amount each month. The
first education centre which was run in Mr. Ansari’s Sugra Public School was
lent to us free of cost and our current centre at the Riverland Public School was
also allotted to us at no cost by its manager Mr. Aziz Ansari for the charitable
work that we are doing. The Ramzan food distribution drives in our early days
were only possible through donations. Hopefully more people will recognize the
work we are doing and be a part of the change we are trying to bring.

11. FUTURE OF ZAHRA
“About 49% of the total population of Delhi lives in slum areas, unauthorized
colonies and about 860 jhuggi- Jhopri clusters with 4,20,000 jhuggies.” The
capital’s civic bodies said in a note filed before the supreme court on
management of municipal solid waste.
Encouraged by our overwhelming achievements and the excellent record we
aim to set up more Zahra Educational Centres for the underprivileged children
at the many slums of Okhla. Having already started from Batla House slums our
aim is to set up more Zahra Educational Centres in the slums of Noor Nagar,
Taimur Nagar and Jasola as well in the next two years for the underprivileged
children who don’t have access to proper education. We firmly believe and
understand that these children have immense potential and can compete with
any private school going students if provided with right resources.
The majority of our target group residing in these slums are migrant workers
from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and other neighboring states. They are
either unemployed or get occasional/temporary employment opportunities
which mean they hardly have enough income to even feed their families.
Parents now understand the importance of education and the positive role it can
play in changing their lives but they don’t have money, time and environment
conducive enough to make their wards literate.
• To provide free remedial classes (2 hours/day) to the poor and
underprivileged children living in the slums of Okhla region.
• To mainstream drop out children into formal education by providing them
tuition support.
• To impart life skills for inculcating positive and adaptive behavior that
would help them to deal with the challenges of everyday life.
• To aware and mobilize parents for developing the kind of behavior and
environment they need to consciously build to provide their child a
healthy and conducive environment to learn and grow in an efficient
manner.
• To help them get on par with the private school students.
• To raise awareness about the importance of quality education in the target
areas.
• To eliminate child labor in the slums of Batla House through awareness
programs among the parents.
• To address and solve every problem that is a hinderance in the way of
education and empowerment.

12. IV. CONCLUSION
Zahra Café and Restaurant opened its first outlet in August 2018, the second
one came up in the very next month, and by November they were able to open
the door of their third and the biggest venture. While the café is Saif and Javed’s
brainchild, their childhood friends and fellow students at the University –
Shaghil Iqbal and Fahad Masood Farooqui – joined Zahra’s core team and now
all four manage the Café as well as its charity initiatives. The instant popularity
of their food made them a local favourite and helped them generate more funds
for the iftar distribution drive in the slums of Batla House, Madanpur Khadar,
and also the Rohingya refugee camps in Kalindi Kunj and Shram Vihar. Since
2017, the Zahra Foundation has been helping nearly 500 families each year.

13. V. REFERENCES
Zahra (zahrafoundation.in)
Zahra Restaurant & Café - Restaurant in New Delhi (business.site)
(3) Zahra Foundation | Facebook
https://youtu.be/jRHWJPbqm-I
Zahra Foundation (INDIA) (@zahra__foundation) • Instagram photos and
videos