Each year, EFMD celebrates influential contributions to management development through the Case Writing Competition. The 2023 edition showcased a remarkable array of winning cases from diverse industries. To delve deeper into the stories behind these achievements, we spoke with the winners about their motivations, inspirations, and the challenges they overcame.

In this interview, we feature Amy Moore from the University of Pretoria, the winner of the “Entrepreneurship” category.

“Projet Jeune Leader: Scaling Challenges of a Social Entrepreneurship in Madagascar”

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share your academic or professional background?

My name is Amy Moore. I am an American living and working in Johannesburg, South Africa. I studied at Mount Holyoke College (USA) and did my master’s at the London School of Economics (UK). I work as a professional associate at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), the business school associated with the University of Pretoria, where I spend my time coaching (individuals and teams), writing teaching cases, and supervising students.

What inspired you to develop this particular case study?

I was introduced to the protagonist, Maia Ramarosandratana, through my involvement with the Gratitude Network, a leadership development organisation based in California aimed at accelerating the growth of high-impact social entrepreneurs working with children and youth. Maia is the founder of Projet Jeune Leader (PFL), and what inspired me to collaborate with my colleague Dr Tracey Toefy on this case was the clear vision that PJL has and how a social enterprise like hers can create social value and play an important role within their larger ecosystem in Madagascar.

Could you elaborate on the main focus of your case study and the learning objectives you intended to address?

The case explores the development of PJL, founded in 2013 and focused on providing comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) to middle school children throughout Madagascar. Maia had grown the organisation into one that had 56 educators, reaching over 29,490 adolescents. The dilemma focuses on how to scale, from partnerships and effective building blocks, to reach more students. After reading and discussing the case, readers should be able to:

• Identify resources and capabilities within an organisation
• Analyse the resources and capabilities using the VRIO framework
• Apply the Ecosystem Model of Scaling Social Impact to discuss how resources interact to scale social impact.

What role did feedback (from peers, mentors, or others) play in the development of your case study, and how did you incorporate it into your final submission?

We are fortunate at GIBS Business School to have a network of colleagues who are invested in the power of storytelling and believe that stories matter. Our case hub, led by Albert Wocke, is always a useful reference point around content and alignment between the storyline and the learning objectives. I love collaborating with Tracey Toefy – she and I brainstorm together, edit and give feedback to each other on the different drafts of the final output. In this instance, I took the lead on the case, and she took the lead on the teaching note. We believe in collaboration and continuous improvement, and I think that the final version represented that through its overall quality.

How do you hope your case study will impact future learners and educators in your field?

We hope the case will be used in courses focused on social entrepreneurship, social inclusion, sustainability, strategy design and scaling. And that readers will be inspired by Maia’s story and her deliberate and focused effort in driving some of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals through the development of PJL’s resources and capabilities.

The Sponsor’s Commentary

The category “Entrepreneurship” is kindly judged by emlyon. EFMD deeply appreciates the invaluable expertise and the dedicated efforts of emlyon in supporting the Case Writing Competition.

How does sponsoring a category in the EFMD Case Writing Competition align with your institution’s core values and mission?

Emlyon Business School has long been recognised as a leader in Entrepreneurial education, and through the medium of case studies, we aim to encourage and promote global entrepreneurial learning.

Reflecting on the winning case and its contributions, what has been your institution’s learning experience from being involved in this competition?

Based on the many cases we receive each year, we are convinced that case studies continue to play a major factor in the development of entrepreneurial teaching and learning.

In what ways does the winning case contribute to or advance the case method of learning in business education, particularly in the context of your sponsored category?

There is a great diversity of cases and approaches, all of which illustrate the rich fabric of entrepreneurial ventures and innovative behaviours.

About Sponsorship

EFMD Case Writing Competition is proud to have dedicated sponsors who drive management education towards impactful teaching and learning. Sponsoring a category allows you to showcase your institution’s expertise in the specific field of management education in the wide EFMD network. The choice of category, its exact definition and any specific conditions are the privileges of the sponsor. Sponsorships for the following categories are currently available – Bringing Technology to Market, Continuous Improvement: the Journey to Excellence, and Latin American Business Cases. If you are interested in sponsoring the mentioned categories or launching a new category relevant to case writing and teaching, please contact Petra Grestenbergerova at petra.grestenbergerova@efmdglobal.org.

More information about the 2023 EFMD Case Writing Competition can be found on the EFMD Case Writing Competition page. Please visit The Case Centre’s webpage to access the collection of the winning cases. See other interviews from this series.