Abstract:
This 60-minute multimedia case explores the issue of building organizational resilience by examining the story of Jaza Energy, a Tanzania-based startup that seeks to bring electricity to rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa by building small solar-powered hubs at the heart of rural communities where mobile batteries are rented for home use.
Launched by young Canadian entrepreneur Jeff Schnurr in 2015, the company has faced many challenges. The case focuses on four of them: 1) Finding the right product-market fit; 2) Overcoming disruptions wrought by the COVID pandemic; 3) Scaling through partnerships, and 4) Raising funds to survive and carry forward a large expansion. Through in-depth interviews with the company’s co-founders, members of the staff, and external supporters, the case looks at some of the highs and lows that have characterized the company’s history thus far and examines Jaza’s strategic decisions as well as its strengths and potential weaknesses.
The videos also cover Jaza’s distinctive culture of mentorship, transparency, and data-driven decision making, and the company’s commitment to hiring local women to run operations and sales in the rural communities it serves.
By considering how Jaza weathered so many significant challenges, the case helps answer the question: How do organizations build resilience to withstand significant shocks and use them as opportunities to become stronger? And is having a charismatic leader a strength or a liability when it comes to an organization’s long-term resilience?
Learning Objectives:
Through the example of a start-up facing and overcoming critical challenges, students will:
- Explore drivers of organizational resilience that can help a social enterprise overcome and weather existential challenges.
- Delineate aspects of organizational resilience that are tied to leadership, versus those that are embedded in an organization’s structure, culture, and systems.
- Grapple with the advantages and vulnerabilities of organizations that have a charismatic founding leader.
