IPODERAC: Finding the Path Towards Sustainability

Starting in 1966, the Rehabilitation Institute of Puebla Civil Association (IPODERAC) has dedicated itself to providing a home and an education for children who have been abandoned in the streets of Mexico. Using an educational model based on the concept of personal development through honourable work, IPODERAC has successfully combined its desire to be financially self-sufficient with its goal of teaching educational values, responsibility and discipline to the children in its care, thus enabling them to develop a sense of belonging and some useful skills for life. This case explores the inception and the long evolution of IPODERAC's educational model, as the organization faces a constant search for production projects that will enable it to generate income. After meeting this goal, IPODERAC also faces the ongoing challenge of maintaining its business units without deviating from its institutional mission. By April 2009, IPODERAC had all but obtained self-sufficiency; however, given the national financial crisis and the emergence of the influenza A1H1 epidemic, IPODERAC's main source of income (i.e., the sale of gourmet cheeses) had suddenly diminished. This crisis affected the stability of the institution, and as a result new proposals for diversification were needed to strengthen IPODERAC's financial sustainability and to avoid similar pitfalls in the future.

• Corporate strategy
• Entrepreneurship