Darshini: Transitioning from Employment Support to Entrepreneurship

Name: Darshini: Transitioning from Employment Support to Entrepreneurship (English version)
SKU: W45591

Smitha Shetty, Venkatesh Murthy

Product #:W45591

Supplier:Ivey

Discipline:Entrepreneurship, Sustainability

Setting:India, 2023

Details:Case (PDF) • 15 pages • 2025-10-31

Subjects:

Entrepreneurship

Geography:

India Asia

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$9.71

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In October 2023, Darshini, a grassroots initiative founded to support the education and empowerment of visually impaired individuals in Tamil Nadu, reached a pivotal moment in its organizational evolution. From its humble beginnings offering recorded readings and volunteer-led academic support, Darshini had grown into a trusted community-based social venture. Over two decades, it enabled more than 600 visually impaired individuals to access higher education and secure employment, operating entirely through volunteer support and informal donations. However, with declining government job placements, limited private sector inclusion, and increased underemployment among its trained beneficiaries, the organization’s support-based model appeared increasingly unsustainable. Cofounder Sowmya Ramasubramanian faced growing pressure to explore entrepreneurship as a livelihood path—both for the beneficiaries and for the organization itself. Could Darshini evolve into a platform that trained visually impaired individuals to be entrepreneurs without losing its grassroots character or risking financial overreach?

Learning Objectives

This case study is an effective learning resource for undergraduate, postgraduate, and executive education programs focused on social entrepreneurship, community entrepreneurship, non-profit management, marginalized entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship for the differently abled.

This case is intended to promote discussion of social entrepreneurship, differently abled and visually impaired entrepreneurship, community-driven organizations, and women’s leadership. By delving into this case, students can gain critical insights into the model of social organization, a transition from traditional livelihood skill development to entrepreneurial training, structural barriers in achieving the organizational goals, resource mobilization, and the lessons drawn by the organization in embracing entrepreneurial training for the visually impaired. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:

Understand the role of social organizations in addressing employment barriers for marginalized communities, specifically the visually impaired.
Assess the feasibility of transitioning an organization’s model from support-based livelihood training to self-sustaining entrepreneurship training for visually impaired individuals by applying entrepreneurial effectuation.
Develop strategies for sustainable revenue sources for the organization by applying the entrepreneurial principles it intends to impart to the visually impaired.
Grasp the leadership style of the lead protagonist and understand why they dedicated their career to serving the visually impaired.