The mobile phone industry is notorious for its lack of sustainability. Fairphone started as a campaign to draw attention to ‘conflict minerals’ and the plight of tantalum miners. It became a social enterprise by launching its first ‘fair phone’, the FP1, with conflict-free tantalum.

By late 2014, Easypaisa, a mobile financial service (MFS) that enabled financial transactions through a mobile phone, had 54% of the MFS market, and was a leader in both over-the-counter (57%) and mobile accounts (75%). However, its OTC market share had dropped precipitously from 88% in the first quarter of 2013 to 62% by the end of 2014.

The case is set in November 2011, when the five-year-old telecommunications company was looking at its strategic options.