Rural Relations is a case study on Social Entrepreneurship with the twin objectives of creating social impact and being sustainable by being profitable. Pradeep Lokhande (Pradeep) demonstrates the importance of innovating along the way in the face of challenges in setting up field operations in rural India. Pradeep undertook a journey for his organization covering 40,000 villages of which he personally visited 4000. He tried to understand rural India's administrative methodologies, markets and the bazaar-haat systems and the education system. In his journey, he established direct contact with opinion makers in villages and started recording details of the local economy. In 1996, he acquired his first customers, Tata Tea and Parle, to delve into the data that he had collected. Since then there has been no turning back.

1. RURAL RELATIONS: A SOCIALLY-DRIVEN ORGANIZATION
Rural Relations is a case study on Social Entrepreneurship with the twin objectives of creating social
impact and being sustainable by being profitable. Pradeep Lokhande (Pradeep) demonstrates the importance
of innovating along the way in the face of challenges in setting up field operations in rural India. Pradeep
undertook a journey for his organization covering 40,000 villages of which he personally visited 4000. He
tried to understand rural India’s administrative methodologies, markets and the bazaar-haat systems and
the education system. In his journey, he established direct contact with opinion makers in villages and
started recording details of the local economy. In 1996, he acquired his first customers,TataTea and Parle,
to delve into the data that he had collected. Since then there has been no turning back.
Pradeep also initiated the library movement, called Gyan-Key, which aimed to make a library in every rural
secondary (middle) school a reality. Gyan-Key is a library of the students, for the students and by the
students. The case study is poised at the stage where Pradeep opines that his goal is to reach all feeder
villages of India in the next five years. However, the challenge now lay in how to scale in terms of both
reach and impact. Would the present model continue to be a good business model? Would the years to
come witness the scaling of business? In order to scale up should Pradeep aim at greater geographical reach
or include more initiatives that would strengthen the organizations position as a ‘Socially Driven
Organization’. Does Rural Relations have the organizational depth in terms of process and leadership to
charge forward?
Pedagogical Objectives
• To appreciate the hard road that an entrepreneur traverses before he realizes his dream
• To understand the critical outcomes for strategy execution in a ProSocial business
• To analyze how businesses can be socially relevant while at the same time compete in the market
place and make profits
• To understand the concept of SROI and the possible methods that can be employed to calculate the
value of the social impact of such businesses
Case Positioning and Setting
• This case study can be used in an ‘Entrepreneurship’ course where students appreciate the difficult
journey the entrepreneur traverses before achieving success.The difficulties of initiating ‘ProSocial’
businesses can also be emphasized at this stage.
• This case study can be used to illustrate the Concept and Significance of ROI in an Entrepreneurial
Venture and the constraints that go into evaluating the Value of Social Businesses.
• This case study can also be used as a teaching aid for ‘Rural Marketing’, where student understands
and appreciates aspects about tapping rural markets in developing countries and the challenges of
competing in rural markets.
ABSTRACT
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