Purpose: Our main purpose is to carry out a research on combining microfinance with entrepreneurship for poverty alleviation, empowerment of poor and sustainable development. Target group: Students, researchers in Microfinance field, MFI’s, NGO’s and Governmental structures. Research Question: How do micro entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and microfinance serve as a combined tool to reduce poverty, empower people, and contribute to sustainable development in Pakistan? Approach: We used qualitative approach for research. The data have been collected through interviews which held as structured and unstructured, and as secondary sources web page of the organization, statistics of Pakistan and Book of organization have also been consulted. Delimitations: Due to distance problem between Pakistan and Sweden and, it was difficult to organize interviews at large scale from borrowers and this can reflect limited information about micro entrepreneurship. It is worthy to say here that Islamic microfinance is quite new practice and very limited data was available. With this, we mainly emphasized on microfinance and entrepreneurship as a combined tool, therefore, there is not enough discussion on Islamic microfinance. But we try to elaborate a complete picture of Islamic microfinance. Originality/value: This paper emphasizes on both Microfinance and Entrepreneurship, as case study we choose Akhuwat organization which started to give loans to poor people without interest. Also we focused on Social Entrepreneurship side of organization which challenges to other MFI’s with innovative type of loaning. Research will give a vision to Akhuwat and other micro financing organization that how they can develop activities more successfully. Future implications: During our research we investigate that there is need to carry out more research on lending methods other than solidarity group. The other area is micro entrepreneurship that needs to be more investigated by researcher because in developing countries micro business with only traditional ways will not be so successful. There will be need of more innovation in production system or in business processes. Islamic microfinance is quite new way for lending loan. It is needed that researcher of western world also do research on this method. So that clear result should come and method becomes more mature. Social Entrepreneurship also need to be discovered from many points, especially relation with profit and non for profit, public, private and nongovernmental models. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Microfinance, Social Entrepreneurship Paper type: Master Thesis

Social entrepreneurship is given considerable attention within literature and academic research despite that fact it is an area that needs considerable attention and research. The main purpose for societal entrepreneurs is to create societal value but there can be difficulties to understand value creation within the area. Important components within Total Quality Management (TQM) are process orientation and value creation. A TQM perspective with processes in focus provides opportunities to clarify societal value creation within societal entrepreneurship initiatives. The main purpose of this thesis has been to explore how societal value is created within the area of societal entrepreneurship and the underlying purpose has been to contribute to the development of knowledge and understanding about the societal entrepreneurship area. In order to fulfil the purpose one literature case study and three empirical case studies have been conducted with processes in focus. The literature case study was conducted first and it resulted in a theoretical process map based on a process perspective, which showed how societal value was created within a societal entrepreneurship initiative. After that the three empirical case studies were conducted separately and the findings from the empirical case studies were compared with the previously developed theoretical process map. A cross case analysis was made to find out if the process map could be confirmed, developed or rejected. The result of the case studies contributes to earlier findings within research and gives a common, comprehensive and simplified picture of a complex phenomenon and an opportunity to understand how societal value is created. A general overall process map is presented that gives a picture of how value is created within the area of societal entrepreneurship. The result shows the management process and support process fields. The map also shows a main process that is further developed with input, output and sub processes. The studies point out that societal value is created through processes and that societal value creation can be described out of a process orientation perspective. Important components to create societal value have been found to be: 'unidentified needs'; 'knowledge about the context'; 'identified need'; 'an idea or a vision'; and some kind of 'organization' and important activities to create value seem to be: 'being in the context'; 'analysis of knowledge'; 'searching for solution'; 'organize and mobilize'; and 'realize'. Fields where support processes are performed that are of importance in societal value creation have been identified. Those fields are 'creation of financing opportunities'; 'performance of political decisions and acts'; 'development and use of networks'; 'establishment of initiative'; 'creation of media information'; 'development and use of scientific results'; and 'development and use of competence'. The map does have potential for development. Further studies need to be done within the area concerning how societal value is created and to get an even more comprehensive process map of the societal entrepreneurship area but the result presented in this thesis is a start to understanding how societal value is created and to develop knowledge and understanding of the societal entrepreneurship area.

This thesis is focused on the derivation of a new approach to business. Emphasis is put on organizations contributing to both economic success as well as social progress.  This dual financial and social value creation is referred to as social entrepreneurship. Increased attention and inclusiveness of the concept has led to confusion regarding the means of organizations acting within the recited phenomenon. Organizations are met with skepticism and are questioned in the matters of legitimacy. Differences of opinion centralize on whether companies invest these resources because it is demanded, because it strengthens the brand or simply because it is the responsibility of the corporation. The perception of legitimacy is dependent on the support the organization receives from its different constituencies. To explore social entrepreneurship, a case study was conducted. This case study was executed through a consumer perspective, seeing as legitimacy is upheld by the perception of the organizations immediate audience. The case company used, GodEl, operates using traditional business models with the purpose of maximizing profits. However, 100% of their earned dividend is donated to various charity organizations. This study is set out with the ambition to gain an understanding of a corporation operating within social entrepreneurship. The conclusions imply that the customers of GodEl legitimize their choice through diverse legitimizing dimensions. The findings indicate that pragmatic legitimacy is a stronger legitimizing dimension than moral legitimacy. These conclusions imply that larger emphasis is given to consumer self-interest, rather than the consequences and judgment of the organizations accomplishments. The ways in which customers legitimize their choices, may also be argued as the same factors affecting GodEls legitimacy regarding their operations.

Syfte: Vårt syfte är att öka förståelse för hur de olika motivationsfaktorerna självförverkligande, gemenskap och altruism (i samhällsfrågor) är motiverande för ledare i sociala företag till att driva deras företag. Metod: Studien är baserad på en kvalitativ metod och vi har använt oss av semistrukturerade intervjuer där 10 olika ledare i sociala företag har blivit intervjuade. För att kunna dra slutsatser från empirin har vi använt oss av tematisk analys och öppen kodning. Resultat & slutsats: Efter studiens genomförande upptäckte vi olika sätt hur de tre teman påverkade ledare i sociala företags motivation. Vi såg även att gemenskap är den motivationsfaktor som påverkar en ledare i ett socialt företag på flest sätt, följt av självförverkligande och sedan altruism (i samhällsfrågor). Resultatet var förvånade då tidigare forskning mer förespråkar altruism som den motivationsfaktor som påverkar en ledare i sociala företag i störst utsträckning.  Uppsatsens bidrag: Vi presenterar en ny vinkel till vad som motiverar en ledare i sociala företag än vad tidigare forskning har visat. Vårt resultat skapar en större och djupare förståelse till varför en person vill arbeta som ledare i ett socialt företag. / Aim: This study has been conducted to find out how the motivation factors of self-realization, fellowship and altruism (in social issues) are motivating for leaders in social enterprises. Method: The study is based on a qualitative method and we have used semi-structured interviews where 10 different leaders in social enterprises have been interviewed. To obtain a result from the empirical data, we have used a thematic analysis and open coding. Result & Conclusions: After this study implementation we found that fellowship is the motivating factor that has the biggest impact for a leader in social enterprise, followed by self-realization and finally altruism (in social issues). This was surprising when earlier research more focused on altruism as the motivating factor that affects a leader in social enterprises the most. Contribution of the thesis: We present a new aspect to what motivates a leader in social enterprises than previous research has shown. This creates a greater and deeper understanding of why a person wants to work as a leader in social enterprise.

Background: Social entrepreneurship has lately gained wide recognition as a promising avenue to develop market-driven solutions to improve lives of the marginalised. While identified as an emerging topic in academics, literature is still limited and heavily biased towards the context of western countries. Further, little is known about how social enterprises interact with the supportive ecosystem to develop their organisations and ensure financial viability while attending their social mission. Thus, the Philippines was chosen as the location of the study, a developing country plagued by social problems, but simultaneously harbouring a growing ecosystem that support social enterprises in their quest to address them. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how the development of New Generation Social Enterprises (NewGen SE) is enabled by the surrounding ecosystem in the context of the Philippines. It further aims to identify factors constraining the progress of NewGen SE, and how the ecosystem can be enhanced to better support these enterprises. Method: The data for this qualitative study has been collected using in-depth, semi-structured interviews. In total, twenty interviews were conducted: ten entrepreneurs from three different development stages (start-up, growth & mature), and ten ecosystem actors. The data has been analysed and interpreted using a general inductive approach. Conclusion: The networks of both the entrepreneurs and the ecosystem actors enable social enterprises to access resources, expertise, and foster collaboration. Challenges on both the macro and micro level are hindering social enterprises to grow, resulting in only a few success stories. To enhance the support for social enterprises more collaboration within and outside the ecosystem should be fostered through the implementation of more intersections such as physical and online spaces where people can connect.

Background: Considering increased global challenges and societal issues, more and more people are directing skepticism towards governments' and established businesses' abilities to fully address urgent social problems. Social entrepreneurship constitutes a new entrepreneurial movement where societal issues are addressed by a combination of market-based methods and social value creation. Social entrepreneurship generates social and sustainable benefits to society and has thus received growing attention from both researchers and policy makers around the world. Social enterprises may take on varies forms, ranging from non-profit organizations to commercially driven enterprises. To focus on sustainable business models, this thesis has delimited the study to solely focus on for-profit or hybrid organizations.   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe what inhibiting factors Swedish social enterprises face in scaling processes. Scaling refers to the magnitude a social business maximizes its social impact, primarily, but not limited to, through organizational growth. Furthermore, the thesis aims at explaining how social forces co-shape preconditions and actor decisions connected to scaling.     Method: To fulfil the purpose of the study, a qualitative research methodology was used. The empirical data was primarily collected through semi-structured interviews held with founders, COO’s and CEO’s from seven social enterprises in Sweden. To fully explain inhibiting factors of scaling, an abductive research approach was used with a combination of open and encouraging questions to promote discussion and develop theory.   Conclusion: The empirical findings of the study revealed a total of 14 inhibiting factors for scaling social impact in Sweden. From the findings, a development of existent theory resulted in a model illustrating the relationship between inhibiting factors, social forces and scaling social impact.

Os empreendedores sociais são protagonistas na abordagem de problemas sociais no Brasil. Contudo, mesmo com esse destaque, pouco ainda se sabe sobre as particularidades desses profissionais. A aprendizagem desses indivíduos é um dos assuntos que carecem da atenção dos acadêmicos. Desse modo, uma das teorias que oportuniza análises a respeito da aprendizagem desses indivíduos é a Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) de Kolb (1984), que relata que a aprendizagem é o processo de criação de conhecimentos a partir da transformação das experiências do indivíduo. Um dos subprodutos da ELT é o conceito dos estilos de aprendizagem: traços pessoais que servem como indicadores de como os indivíduos percebem, interagem e respondem aos ambientes de aprendizagem. Para Alonso et al. (1997), existem quatro diferentes tipos de estilos de aprendizagem: o pragmático, o teórico, o ativo e o reflexivo. Assim, os autores elaboraram o instrumento Cuestionario Honey y Alonso sobre Estilos de Aprendizaje (CHAEA) para verificarem os estilos de aprendizagem dos indivíduos e realizarem análises relativas ao assunto. Dessa forma, a presente pesquisa se propôs a analisar a aprendizagem dos empreendedores sociais brasileiros à luz da Experiential Learning Theory, utilizando, para isso, o instrumento CHAEA. Primeiramente, os 90 empreendedores sociais brasileiros pesquisados tiveram seus estilos de aprendizagem verificados e os resultados foram analisados por meio de análises estatísticas univariadas e bivariadas. Assim, foi constatado que o estilo pragmático, o estilo teórico, o estilo ativo e o estilo reflexivo somam, respectivamente, 36,7%, 31,1%, 24,4%, e 7,8% da preferência geral dos pesquisados. Num segundo momento, particularidades e tendências relativas à aprendizagem desses indivíduos foram discutidas, e hipóteses foram produzidas. Essas hipóteses oferecem margem para o desenvolvimento de novos estudos relacionados ao tema. É indicado que as futuras pesquisas procurem trabalhar com amostras mais numerosas e com outros tipos de análises estatísticas. À parte das descobertas em relação à aprendizagem dos pesquisados e das hipóteses desenvolvidas, esta pesquisa também teve outro desdobramento relacionado ao estudo do empreendedorismo social no Brasil: o delineamento do perfil do empreendedor social brasileiro. Foi encontrado que esse indivíduo se caracteriza, majoritariamente, por ser identificado com o gênero masculino, ser jovem, declarar-se da raça ou cor branca, possuir alto grau de escolaridade e estar envolvido há pouco tempo com iniciativas sociais. O perfil constatado corrobora o perfil encontrado por outros autores e traz maior solidez para a discussão do tema. De forma geral, esta pesquisa colaborou para o avanço das pesquisas relativas ao empreendedorismo social e à aprendizagem experiencial no Brasil. Também foi viabilizada para os empreendedores sociais brasileiros participantes a oportunidade de verificarem seus estilos de aprendizagem e, assim, entenderem melhor suas próprias particularidades quanto à aprendizagem. Por último, destaca-se a contribuição para com instituições voltadas à educação, que por meio dos resultados desta pesquisa poderão aprimorar seus cursos direcionados aos empreendedores sociais. / Social entrepreneurs are central figures in addressing societal problems in Brazil. Nevertheless, despite the spotlights being pointed on these individuals, little is known about their particularities. Their learning process, for instance, is a subject lacking academic research. Therefore, one way to analyze their learning process is through the Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) present by Kolb (1984), which says that learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. One of the ELT's sub-products is the learning styles concept, which suggests that personal traits work as indicators of how someone perceives, interacts and responds to learning environments. Alonso et al. (1997) proposed four different learning styles: pragmatist, theorist, activist and reflector. As a result, the authors created the survey Cuestionario Honey y Alonso sobre Estilos de Aprendizaje (CHAEA) to verify someone's learning style and to carry out analysis about their learning process. Thus, the present research aims to analyze Brazilian social entrepreneurs' learning process in the light of the Experiential Learning Theory, using, to that end, the CHAEA survey. Primarily, the 90 Brazilian social entrepreneurs studied in this research had their learning styles verified and their results analyzed through univariate and bivariate techniques. Thus, it was determined that the pragmatist style, the theorist style, the activist style and the reflector style represented, respectively, 36.7%, 31.1%, 24.4%, and 7.8% of the participant’s general preference. Secondly, particularities and tendencies regarding the Brazilian social entrepreneurs studied were discussed, and hypotheses were produced. This hypotheses offer a clear research path to anyone interested in developing new studies about the subject. It is indicated for future researches to work with larger samples and with other types of statistical analysis. Besides the discoveries regarding the participant's learning process and the hypotheses developed, this research also presented other outcome related to social entrepreneurship studies in Brazil: the establishment of the Brazilian social entrepreneur profile. It was found that these individuals are characterized, mostly, by recognizing themselves as males, by being young, by declaring themselves as white individuals, by possessing a high schooling level and by getting involved recently with social enterprises. The profile formed supports profiles described by other authors in their researches and brings a meaningful consolidation regarding the subject discussion. In general, this research contributed to the advance of researches related to social entrepreneurship and to experiential learning in Brazil. In a practical viewpoint, it was made possible for the Brazilian social entrepreneurs which were part of this research to verify their learning styles and, thus, understand better their own particularities regarding their learning processes. Lastly, the contribution to educational institutions needs to be addressed. Through the results of this research it will be possible for these establishments to improve their courses designed for social entrepreneurs.

abstract: With budgets on the decline, university officials are seeking alternative methods to maintain and increase the type of services provided to students. By incorporating social entrepreneurial competencies in the daily actions of university staff members, staff members will be able to perform their work more effectively and help students acquire skills such as innovative thinking, which is needed in today's society. Social entrepreneurs are defined as change agents for society; these individuals seize opportunities missed by others, improve systems, create solutions, innovate and adapt, leverage resources they do not control, and advocate for what they and others need to be successful (Ashoka, 2010a; Bornstein & Davis, 2010; Dees, 1998). Universities will be more successful in respect to helping students with a workforce of social entrepreneurs capable of leveraging resources. Through action research, this study utilized a phenomenological perspective with both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis to introduce social entrepreneurial competencies to the live-in housing professionals (pro-staff) at Arizona State University (ASU) and then examined the incorporation of the competencies into the pro-staff's daily work. Ten current pro-staff participated in two phases of the study, each of which consisted of surveys and workshops. Participants' responses indicated that there are five competencies and three strengths related to social entrepreneurship that are significant to the pro-staff position and their daily work at ASU. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Higher and Postsecondary Education 2012

Submitted by Giulio Vanni (giulio.vanni@outlook.com) on 2015-02-24T17:30:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis Giulio Vanni Final_REVv4.pdf: 1255160 bytes, checksum: 549e48d362725d8a9539ffd595016c05 (MD5) / Rejected by Luana Rodrigues (luana.rodrigues@fgv.br), reason: Dear Giulio, Please make the changes below into your thesis and then post it again. 1) The counting of pages starts on the first page, however the page numbers should be viewed only from the introduction. 2) The knowledge field is the same of your advisor, in this case is Gestão e Competitividade em Empresas Globais. 3) After the acknowledgments you must write the abstract with the keywords and the “resumo” with the “palavras-chave”. After you modify your thesis, please upload it again. Best, on 2015-02-24T20:08:47Z (GMT) / Submitted by Giulio Vanni (giulio.vanni@outlook.com) on 2015-02-26T03:07:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis Giulio Vanni Final_REVv5.pdf: 1266454 bytes, checksum: 0c3972454c60c05bd143190c618abf3c (MD5) / Rejected by Luana Rodrigues (luana.rodrigues@fgv.br), reason: Dear Giulio, Please, do not forget to write the "resumo" and "palavras-chave" after the abstract. "Resumo" is the version in Portuguese of the abstract and it is mandatory. And remember to change the knowledge field to GESTÃO E COMPETITIVIDADE EM EMPRESAS GLOBAIS. When you add the "resumo" to your thesis, plase post it again. Thank you very much! Best, on 2015-02-26T11:50:01Z (GMT) / Submitted by Giulio Vanni (giulio.vanni@outlook.com) on 2015-02-26T12:39:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis Giulio Vanni Final_REVv6.pdf: 1264235 bytes, checksum: 91765d4a45c45044f240bbe06ca8b06c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luana Rodrigues (luana.rodrigues@fgv.br) on 2015-02-26T14:31:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis Giulio Vanni Final_REVv6.pdf: 1264235 bytes, checksum: 91765d4a45c45044f240bbe06ca8b06c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-02-26T14:55:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis Giulio Vanni Final_REVv6.pdf: 1264235 bytes, checksum: 91765d4a45c45044f240bbe06ca8b06c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-01-26 / The purpose of the dissertation is to investigate in depth the difference between the challenges social and business entrepreneurs face in the growth phase of their business in the particular environment of Brazil. This objective has been achieved through a two-steps methodology. The first step is a set of in-depth interviews carried out with industry experts such as professors, venture capitalists, consultants, fund managers or people involved in the support of growing startups (i.e. accelerators). These interviews allowed, first, to build a general perspective on the environment entrepreneurs operate into and to identify a list of challenges entrepreneurs face in the growth process of their business. This list was completed with the additional challenges identified in the previous literature. The second step of the methodology was to test the relevance of these challenges in the mind and experience of social and traditional entrepreneurs. A questionnaire was then submitted to 145 social and 286 traditional entrepreneurs. The results were statistically analyzed to test the relative relevance of these challenges for one group of entrepreneurs with respect to the other. The outcome of the analysis was significant. The most relevant challenges identified were, for both groups, taxation, bureaucracy, finding the right employees, creating effective teams, measuring firm performance and social value creation and obtaining funds. On the other side motivation, innovation, competition and lack of market space for growth represented the least relevant issues in the minds of entrepreneurs. This rank however did not differ significantly from social to traditional entrepreneurs. This testifies that in Brazil social and traditional entrepreneurs face the same set of challenges despite the widespread belief of the opposite. / O objetivo da dissertação é de investigar a fundo a diferencia entre os desafios que os empreendedores sociais e os empreendedores tradicionais enfrentam na fase de crescimento do business deles no Brasil. Este objetivo foi alcançado através de um método composto por dois passos. O primeiro passo é um conjunto de entrevistas em profundidade, realizadas com especialistas do setor, tais como professores, capitalistas de risco, consultores, gestores de fundos ou pessoas envolvidas no apoio do crescimento das startups (ou seja, aceleradoras). Estas entrevistas permitiram, em primeiro lugar, de construir uma perspectiva geral sobre o meio ambiente empresarial e de identificar uma lista de desafios que os empresários enfrentam no processo de crescimento de seus negócios. Esta lista foi completada com os desafios identificados na literatura anterior. A segunda etapa da metodologia foi testar a relevância destes desafios na mente e experiência de empreendedores sociais e tradicionais. Um questionário foi, então, submetido a 145 empreendedores sociais e 286 empresários tradicionais. Os resultados foram analisados estatisticamente para testar a importância relativa destes desafios para um grupo de empresários em relação à outra. O resultado da análise foi significativo. Os desafios mais relevantes identificados foram, para ambos os grupos, a tributação, a burocracia, encontrar os funcionários certos, criar equipes eficazes, medir o desempenho da empresa e a criação de valor social e obtenção de fundos. Por outro lado motivação, inovação, concorrência e falta de espaço de mercado para o crescimento representam as questões menos relevantes na mente dos empresários. Esta classificação, porém, não diferiu significativamente dos empreendedores sociais aos empresários tradicionais. Isso comprova que no Brasil os empreendedores sociais e tradicionais enfrentam o mesmo conjunto de desafios, apesar da crença generalizada do contrário.

Submitted by Fernanda Recamonde Mendoza (fernanda.recamonde@gmail.com) on 2016-03-23T03:27:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_MPGI_FRM.pdf: 1278719 bytes, checksum: 879af18e8309d2efbb5e2f8309168abb (MD5) / Rejected by Ana Luiza Holme (ana.holme@fgv.br), reason: Fernanda, The acknowledgements should be before the abstract. Best. Ana Luiza Holme 37993492 on 2016-03-23T12:33:44Z (GMT) / Submitted by Fernanda Recamonde Mendoza (fernanda.recamonde@gmail.com) on 2016-03-23T13:48:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_MPGI_FRM.pdf: 1391311 bytes, checksum: 1ad5463a924fe1345a49c1c78081f58d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Luiza Holme (ana.holme@fgv.br) on 2016-03-23T13:55:28Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_MPGI_FRM.pdf: 1391311 bytes, checksum: 1ad5463a924fe1345a49c1c78081f58d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-23T14:03:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_MPGI_FRM.pdf: 1391311 bytes, checksum: 1ad5463a924fe1345a49c1c78081f58d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / The term 'social entrepreneurship' has been attracting growing interest from different sectors in the past years, driven by the possibility of employing business techniques to tackle recurrent social and environmental issues. At the forefront of this global phenomenon is microcredit, seen by many as an effective anti-poverty tool and having the Grameen Bank as its flagship program. While the prospects of social entrepreneurship seem promising, the newness of the concept and its somewhat confusing definition make conditions difficult to analyze this contemporary phenomenon. Therefore, the objective of this study was to discuss the challenges faced by social entrepreneurs and alternatives of development for social businesses through a case study on a Brazilian microcredit institution and inclusive business, Banco Pérola. The case addresses a growing need for case studies designed for teaching in the field of social entrepreneurship. It was focused mainly on understanding the development challenges within Banco Pérola, and built based on interviews carried out with top management, credit officer and clients of the institution, as well as on secondary data collected. An analysis of the case study was performed under a Teaching Notes. As illustrated by the Banco Pérola case, the main difficulties encountered by social entrepreneurs relate to the systematization of processes and creation of operational routines, including for performance evaluation (impact assessment tools); to the capture and management of both financial and human capital; to scaling up the business model and to the need of forging closer and more personal relationships with customers as against in traditional banking practices. In spite of certain limitations, such as the fact that the case might soon become outdated due to the fast-changing environment surrounding Banco Pérola, or the fact that not all relevant stakeholders (e.g. partners) were selected for interviews, the research objective has been achieved and the study can be seen as a contribution to spreading the concept of social entrepreneurship. / O termo 'empreendedorismo social' tem sido objeto de atenção crescente da parte de diversos setores nos últimos anos, motivada pela possibilidade de empregar técnicas de negócio para solucionar problemas sociais e ambientais recorrentes. À frente deste movimento global está o microcrédito, visto por muitos como um eficiente instrumento contra a pobreza e tendo o Grameen Bank como o seu carro-chefe. Embora a perspectiva para o empreendedorismo social seja promissora, a novidade do conceito e sua definição relativamente confusa tornam difíceis as condições para analisar este fenômeno contemporâneo. Logo, este estudo teve como objetivo discutir desafios enfrentados por empreendedores sociais bem como alternativas de crescimento para negócios sociais através de um estudo de caso sobre o Banco Pérola, instituição brasileira de microcrédito e negócio de impacto. O estudo de caso responde à crescente necessidade de casos de ensino no campo de empreendedorismo social. Ele teve como principal foco a compreensão dos desafios de desenvolvimento do Banco Pérola e foi construído com base em entrevistas conduzidas com a alta gerência, agente de crédito e clientes da instituição, bem como em dados secundários coletados. Uma análise do estudo de caso foi elaborada sob o Teaching Notes. Como ilustrado pelo caso do Banco Pérola, as principais dificuldades encontradas por empreendedores sociais relacionam-se à sistematização de processos e criação de rotinas operacionais, incluindo para avaliação de performance (instrumentos de avaliação de impacto); à captura e gestão de recursos financeiros e humanos; à expansão do modelo de negócio e à necessidade de estabelecer relacionamentos mais próximos e mais pessoais com clientes quando comparado à segmentos bancários tradicionais. Apesar de certas limitações, como o fato de que o caso possa, em breve, se desatualizar devido ao contexto de rápidas mudanças em que o Banco Pérola evolui ou, ainda, de que nem todas as partes relevantes tenham sido selecionadas para entrevistas (e.g. parceiros), o objetivo de pesquisa foi alcançado e o estudo pode ser considerado como uma contribuição para a propagação do conceito de empreendedorismo social.