Case Details
Food Angel: A Sustainable Solution to Food Waste in Hong Kong
Food Angel is a Hong Kong based social venture that recycles food into cooked meals for Hong Kong’s poor. Founded by Gigi Tung, Food Angel has growth so a successful organisation employing over 200 paid staff and 20,000 volunteers who process over 10,000 meals and 200 food packs daily.
Gigi believes her philosophy and leadership are working successfully. But going forward, as the charity expands, she wants to develop leadership from within. Can institutional culture, once established, be changed?
Learning Objective:
The example of Food Angel illustrates key points in the establishment, growth, and challenges of social ventures. In this case, students will learn about the inception and management of a social venture from start-up through to its current mature organizational structure.
This example outlines relevant topics including social enterprise management, leadership, attitude, motivation, and organizational culture. Specific topics like leader vision, mission, and problem solving are also pertinent to this case. The case can also be used in business school courses that are concerned with corporate social responsibility issues.
As many social enterprises integrate moneymaking ventures with creating a positive impact on society, there can be meaningful discussions about how business and social entrepreneurs can learn from each other. For example, instructors can contrast the business models of social enterprises to those of business organizations and examine how to enhance each. Instructors may also want to address issues such as how businesses may design their social corporate responsibility initiatives by leveraging and supporting social enterprises and social entrepreneurs.