En Classe is an educational foundation operating in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one of the poorest countries in the world, where nearly 61 million people live on less than $1.90 a day. Twelve million children do not attend school and only a quarter of those who do ultimately complete secondary education.

The Universidad Privada Boliviana (UPB), the Private University of Bolivia, was founded in 1993. Not long after, in the late 1990s, civil unrest erupted with coca growers battling police in the streets outside the campus. Students and faculty fled, the prior President retired, and the University was functionally insolvent.

The case follows the story of Brazilian business leader, Ricardo Semler, who took the family marine-pump business, Semco, to multi-national, multi-sector success. To do so, Ricardo Semler dramatically changed his own leadership style by relinquishing control and working less hard, and subsequently transformed the culture at Semco via a radical process of workplace democratisation.

In 2009, a Macquarie consortium won the tender to build six Irish schools under a public-private partnership programme. The work was financed mainly with debt, with only €50,000 of straight equity injected into the project. Payments from the Irish government were the sole source of revenue. However, the advent of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe put the government's ability to pay in doubt.

Case A describes how a couple who lost a child create a social venture - the Max Foundation - by applying sound business principles to maximize the impact per-euro-spent. Case B discusses the growth challenges facing the organisation today.

Case A describes how a couple who lost a child create a social venture - the Max Foundation - by applying sound business principles to maximize the impact per-euro-spent. Case B discusses the growth challenges facing the organisation today.