HomeResearch & Knowledgeback to HomeEntrepreneurshipback to Research & KnowledgeRede Mulher Empreendedora: Navigating mission integrity and financial sustainabilityback to Entrepreneurship

Case Study

Rede Mulher Empreendedora: Navigating mission integrity and financial sustainability

By Vanina Farber, María Helena Jaén, Jose Mello, Lilian de Miranda, Patricia Araripe, Peter Munk Laursen and Rabia Chishti

13 pages

November 2024

Order this case study

Reference: IMD-7-2613

The case focuses on Rede Mulher Empreendedora (RME), Brazil’s largest support platform for female entrepreneurship, and its founder, Ana Fontes. Founded in 2010, RME had grown into a significant network by 2023, impacting the livelihoods of over 12 million women in Brazil, a country with substantial gender disparities. The platform offers initiatives to empower women economically and provides knowledge and tailored content to help them manage their businesses and navigate Brazil’s entrepreneurial landscape. By 2023, RME was at a critical juncture. Although RME had clear objectives to empower women, there was uncertainty about how each initiative contributed to its mission. Financially, RME experienced a dramatic shift: In 2022, it raised US$6 million, but in 2023, fundraising efforts dropped to US$2.6 million – a 57% decrease. This decline exposed RME’s heavy reliance on corporate philanthropy, from organizations like Google.org, Visa and the Mapfre Foundation, which constituted 80% of its income. The remaining 20% of revenue came from projects funded by RME’s partners, which proved inadequate to sustain the organization’s ambitious goals. Besides, in 2023, the fundraising campaign fell far short of expectations. Reduced funds meant that new projects were postponed, and existing initiatives faced the threat of being scaled back. Fontes must ensure financial sustainability, identify new revenue streams and reduce dependence on philanthropy while staying true to RME´s mission. Her goal is to achieve self-sustainability while continuing to fulfill the mission. This involves analyzing whether RME should pivot to a for-profit enterprise, remain a non-profit or adopt a hybrid approach to balance its social impact with financial viability. Students must put themselves in Ana’s shoes and evaluate the potential benefits and trade-offs of these models to determine the best path forward.

Learning Objective

Evaluate trade-offs, opportunities and challenges for social enterprises balancing financial sustainability and mission alignment.
Assess the transition from non-profit to for-profit models, considering stakeholder perspectives and impact on mission and effectiveness.
Propose a business model that ensures mission alignment and financial sustainability, incorporating stakeholder viewpoints.
Use AI tools responsibly, integrating AI-generated information with human insights to analyze benefits, risks, biases and limitations.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship, Sustainability, Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, Financial Sustainability, Business Model Transformation, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, Women Empowerment, Poverty Elimination, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Decent Work Conditions, Economic Growth, Reduced Inequalities

Settings

Latin America, Brazil
Rede Mulher Empreendedora, Services
2023

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

Related material

Teaching note

IMD case studies are distributed through case clearing houses. In order to browse the collection and purchase copies please visit the links below.

The Case Centre

Cranfield University

Wharley End Beds MK43 0JR, UK
Tel +44 (0)1234 750903
Email [email protected]

Harvard Business School Publishing

60 Harvard Way, Boston MA 02163, USA
Tel (800) 545-7685 Tel (617)-783-7600
Fax (617) 783-7666
Email [email protected]

Asia Pacific Case Center

NUCB Business School

1-3-1 Nishiki Naka
Nagoya Aichi, Japan 460-0003
Tel +81 52 20 38 111
Email [email protected]

IMD retains all proprietary interests in its case studies and notes. Without prior written permission, IMD cases and notes may not be reproduced, used, translated, included in books or other publications, distributed in any form or by any means, stored in a database or in other retrieval systems. For additional copyright information related to case studies, please contact Case Services.

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Keep reading

Article

Meet the Magnificent 7 of scaling

Explore the Magnificent 7 of scaling: strategy, organization, and leadership practices that drive successful growth.

Entrepreneurship Growth Innovation Leadership Strategy

By Jim Pulcrano

in I by IMD

Case Study

Alpian: Swiss banking excellence. For all.

Digital Entrepreneurship Strategy Finance

By Benoit F. Leleux and Inna Francis

Case Study

A bittersweet paradox: From zero child labor to human rights due diligence

Sustainability Business Ethics Stakeholder Management Supply Chain

By Vanina Farber, María Helena Jaén, Zoe Gudino, Johanna Beatrice Frisch De Crousaz, Simon Paul Ntah and Elisabeth Reus

Article

Why CFOs should build resilience before they need it

Pirelli CFO Fabio Bocchio explains how disciplined capital allocation, sustainability investment, and balance-sheet strength build resilience.

Finance Finance Leadership Sustainability Value Creation

By I by IMD

in I by IMD

Case Study

Holcim: Transitioning toward net zero

Sustainability Change Management Business Transformation Strategy

By Frédéric Dalsace, Goutam N. Challagalla and Nicholas Abery

Article

Luxury’s next competitive advantage is sustainability and business transformation

Luxury’s approach to sustainability has hit a dead end. In Purposeful Luxury, I show that the top 100 luxury brands have started to conscientiously reduce negative impacts across the three ESG categories. But the results are largely insufficient b...

Sustainability Luxury

By Stéphane J. G. Girod

in The European Business Review

11 October 2026

Video

Why sustainability lies at the heart of leadership

André Hoffmann explores how leaders can build resilient businesses by putting nature, purpose, and long-term value at the heart of their decisions.

Board Corporate Governance Sustainability

By Florian Hoos

in I by IMD

Article

Sustainability reporting isn’t the same as risk preparedness

Sustainability reporting is now common among large companies. According to the OECD, firms representing 91% of global listed market capitalization disclose sustainability-related information. Yet we find that firms with strong reporting often assu...

Sustainability

By Christos Cabolis and Karl Schmedders

in HBR.org

9 October 2026

Book

Green by design: How global businesses are reimagining carbon footprint

In a world where climate action often stalls at the policy level, this book spotlights how leading companies are stepping up to reduce CO₂ emissions and improve public health—through innovation, strategy, and bold leadership. From maritime decarbo...

Sustainability

By Peter Lorange, Sigvald Harryson and Karin Mugnaini

Article

When women stick together: Network dynamics and shared resources following disruptive events

Social networks play a role in exacerbating or ameliorating inequality. The persistence of network-based inequality is well documented. However, the mechanisms that disrupt this unequal access to resources remain poorly understood. This study inve...

Diversity and Equity and Inclusion Organizational Behavior

By Yiftach Yarmar, Tiantian Yang and Marissa D. King

in Academy of Management Journal

October 2026, vol. 69., no. 5, pp. 985–1013, https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2024.0199

Meet the Magnificent 7 of scaling

By Jim Pulcrano
in I by IMD

Summary

Explore the Magnificent 7 of scaling: strategy, organization, and leadership practices that drive successful growth.

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Entrepreneurship

Growth

Innovation

Leadership

Strategy

Browse all topics

Alpian: Swiss banking excellence. For all.

By Benoit F. Leleux and Inna Francis
Case reference: IMD-7-2552 ©2026

Summary

In August 2023, Alpian's founding CEO Schuyler Weiss announced his departure, promoting Gianmarco Bonaita to the role. Alpian had pioneered digital Swiss private banking. With three rounds of financing, a full-fledged Swiss banking license from FINMA and a strategic partnership with Fideuram–Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, it also demonstrated a solid B2B potential selling its digital technology. Reinventing the private banking industry for digital natives was no simple feat. Among the most pressing concerns were how to reduce the client acquisition costs, how to diversify private banking services, how broadly to expand Alpian retail services while keeping the costs down and how to develop the fledgling B2B market. Scale was clearly of the essence, and so far it had come at a very high cost. What else could they do to increase brand awareness and client acquisition to accelerate scale up without proportional cost increases? And as if that was not enough, Alpian also had to deal with the agenda of a new majority owner.

Reference IMD-7-2552

Organization Alpian

Industry Finance and Insurance, Banking

Available Languages English

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Digital

Entrepreneurship

Strategy

Finance

Browse all topics

A bittersweet paradox: From zero child labor to human rights due diligence

By Vanina Farber María Helena Jaén Zoe Gudino Johanna Beatrice Frisch De Crousaz Simon Paul Ntah and Elisabeth Reus
Case reference: IMD-2712 ©2026

Summary

What does a zero target measure? In 2016, Barry Callebaut launched Forever Chocolate with a pledge to eradicate child labor from its supply chain by 2025. For its 2021-22 financial year, the company reported over 25,000 cases of child labor identified and 2,844 remediated. In May 2023, it changed the target: By 2025, human rights due diligence would cover its entire cocoa supply chain and every identified case would be remediated. A Bittersweet Paradox: From Zero Child Labor to Human Rights Due Diligence uses this decision to examine how zero KPIs and impact metrics behave in practice. A zero KPI states an absolute ethical demand in a single number. That simplicity mobilizes action. It can also conceal the conditions that determine whether change lasts: persistent poverty in farming communities, limited access to education, and constraints that no single company can resolve alone. But Zero KPIs also set a measurement trap. Stronger monitoring uncovers more cases so improved visibility looks like deteriorating performance. A report of zero cases can say more about what an organization fails to see than about the children it has protected. The replacement metrics raise their own questions. Is abandoning zero child labor a retreat or an evolution in the sustainability strategy compliant with the new regulatory environment? Students work with the company's reported figures through the eyes of a sustainability manager, an investor, a child rights organization and a farmer cooperative, each reading the same evidence differently. The questions apply more broadly: to net zero emissions, zero workplace harm and zero discrimination. What exactly does 'zero' cover? Do incentives reward discovering problems? Who verifies that remediation lasts? Do indicators reveal progress or reward an attractive appearance of success?

Reference IMD-2712

Organization Barry Callebaut

Available Languages English

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Sustainability

Business Ethics

Stakeholder Management

Supply Chain

Browse all topics

Why CFOs should build resilience before they need it

By I by IMD
in I by IMD

Summary

Pirelli CFO Fabio Bocchio explains how disciplined capital allocation, sustainability investment, and balance-sheet strength build resilience.

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Finance

Finance Leadership

Sustainability

Value Creation

Browse all topics

Holcim: Transitioning toward net zero

By Frédéric Dalsace Goutam N. Challagalla and Nicholas Abery
Case reference: IMD-2759 ©2026

Summary

Holcim is a Swiss multinational company that manufactures cement and building materials. Excluding China, it is the top cement producer in the world. Holcim is also a top 50 CO2 emissions emitter. And it decisively put sustainability efforts front and center in its overall strategy. The case describes the integration of different sustainability initiatives into Holcim's overall strategy over more than a decade, a period during which the firm underwent massive transformations, including a merger with Lafarge, a major pivot from cement to construction materials, the sale of assets in key countries and a spin off of its North-American operations. The case pivots the discussion from the traditional question: 'What does Holcim do for sustainability?' to a more interesting one: 'What does sustainability do for Holcim?' It brings clarity to the different ways through which sustainability contributes to the firm's strategy: compliance, resilience and market advantage. Focusing on market advantage, it shows the vast repertoire of sustainability actions that can impact a firm's strategy and how sustainability can be leveraged to create value. It also reveals that not all sustainability actions are designed to have a sustainability impact.

Reference IMD-2759

Organization Holcim Group

Industry Materials, Construction Materials;Materials, Cement

Available Languages English

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Sustainability

Change Management

Business Transformation

Strategy

Browse all topics

Luxury’s next competitive advantage is sustainability and business transformation

By Stéphane J. G. Girod
in The European Business Review 11 October 2026

Summary

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Sustainability

Luxury

Browse all topics

Why sustainability lies at the heart of leadership

By Florian Hoos
in I by IMD

Summary

André Hoffmann explores how leaders can build resilient businesses by putting nature, purpose, and long-term value at the heart of their decisions.

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Board

Corporate Governance

Sustainability

Browse all topics

Green by design: How global businesses are reimagining carbon footprint

By Peter Lorange Sigvald Harryson and Karin Mugnaini
Published by Springer ©2026

Summary

Available Languages English

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Sustainability

Browse all topics

When women stick together: Network dynamics and shared resources following disruptive events

By Yiftach Yarmar Tiantian Yang and Marissa D. King
in Academy of Management Journal October 2026, vol. 69., no. 5, pp. 985–1013, https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2024.0199

Summary

Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

Related topics

Diversity and Equity and Inclusion

Organizational Behavior

Browse all topics