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Product cover image for Wetility: Renewable Energy Venture’s Funding Choice to Keep the Lights On

Wetility: Renewable Energy Venture’s Funding Choice to Keep the Lights On

Caren Scheepers, Khanyi Mngadi

Product #:W44029
Supplier:Ivey/GIBS
Discipline:Entrepreneurship, Sustainability
Setting:South Africa, 2023
Details:Case (PDF) • 15 pages • 2025-07-24

Subjects:

Leadership and managing peopleEntrepreneurshipManagement

Industries:

Utilities sector

Geography:

South AfricaAfrica
Your Price:$9.71

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Vincent Maphosa was the founder and chief executive officer of Wetility, a solar energy start-up based in South Africa. On April 20, 2023, Maphosa faced a critical decision that could shape the financial trajectory of his emerging four-year-old business. Wetility was contending with a balance sheet weighed down by debt and significant operational pressures. Maphosa’s dilemma was choosing between securing potential equity investment and leveraging a commercial partnership with the state-owned telecommunications provider Telkom SA SOC Ltd. to safeguard the company’s viability.

Learning Objectives

This case is designed for postgraduate-level or executive programs or short courses on entrepreneurship and environmental, social and governance issues. The case is designed to teach core concepts about resource mobilization, social capital, founding-team formation, and the renewable energy landscape in emerging market economies. After working through the case, the prescribed relevant readings, and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:
  • Differentiate between the types (i.e., strength) of social ties and the interpersonal networks they form by applying a sociogram (stakeholder map).
  • Comprehend how an individual’s environmental context and social structure are embedded in and influence their approach to resource mobilization.
  • Evaluate the challenges that over-embeddedness may present to individuals within entrepreneurial firms and recommend approaches to overcome this.
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Case Study: Wetility: Renewable Energy Venture’s Funding Choice to Keep the Lights On (English version) | Ivey Publishing