Searching for role models: The case of Malferida the healthy cola with nothing to hide

Abstract

Gendered barriers that have traditionally impeded entry into entrepreneurship are lessening. Nonetheless, there is still a clear need to further encourage female students into an entrepreneurial career pathway. To do so, traditional classroom discourse that promotes the masculinised concept of the ‘heroic’ entrepreneur who experiences overnight success needs to be challenged. By providing a case study of a young successful female entrepreneur we open a pathway beyond a narrow vision of the homogenous entrepreneur driven by purely profit-seeking motives. It is well recognised that the socialisation process differs between individuals, making it important to consider the lived experiences of a variety of entrepreneurs that can appeal to the idiosyncratic needs of our students. At the same time, to amplify the value of such narratives they need to be connected to what we already know. The overriding aim of this teaching case is to offer a narrative of a successful female entrepreneur that can be used as a tool to stimulate an entrepreneurial mindset in students.

Keywords

Female entrepreneurship education gender case study

Introduction

Gender plays a pivotal role in the decision as to whether a student chooses to pursue an entrepreneurial career (Varamäki et al., 2016; Wieland et al., 2019). In this respect, gendered discourse can influence entrepreneurial aspirations by encouraging a suitability analysis as to whether one adheres to a socially prescribed entrepreneurial stereotype (Blackburn and Kovalainen, 2009). Previously, a collectively conditioned narrative marginalised many demographics by creating the belief that certain groups, for example, females, did not fit with the conventional view of entrepreneurship. Consequently, generalisations were made questioning the ability of females to meet the entrepreneurial performance standards set by their male counterparts (du Rietz and Henrekson, 2000).

Many of these commonly held beliefs about entrepreneurship and gender stem from the view that entrepreneurial behaviour has been traditionally masculine typed (Sullivan and Meek, 2012). This creates a gender-role expectation presenting the archetypical entrepreneur as someone who is characterised by masculine traits, which is then internalised and used as a yardstick for comparisons to the ‘female’ entrepreneur (Henry et al., 2015). Thus, many potential entrepreneurs can be discouraged from seeing entrepreneurship as a desirable and viable career option given the risk of negative stereotype threats (Kossek et al., 2017).

Contemporary thinking, however, has shed light on the perceived erroneous strategy of benchmarking entrepreneurship against an idealised form. Literature now challenges the prevailing discourse as society progresses and attempts to eliminate unfounded and potentially harmful assumptions (Henry et al., 2016). We are witnessing a gradual erosion of the obstacles that previously impeded entry into entrepreneurship; evidenced by the steady increase of women participating in entrepreneurial activity (Kelley et al., 2017). Heavy criticism based on the reality that individuals are accompanied with different needs, goals and values (Donaldson et al., 2021; Mitchell, 2004), have rendered those approaches that simply apply male-dominant paradigms to females redundant.

Although progress has been promising and appears to be heading in the right direction, regrettably, female entrepreneurs continue to suffer from absence or misrepresentation in much policy perceiving them as a resource for economic growth, and, given their ‘difference’ need to be ‘fixed’ to fit the appropriate mould rather than focusing on the fundamental and structural aspects of gender equity (Ahl and Nelson, 2015; Birhanu et al., 2022). Such practice can lead to psychological barriers that fail to consider the specific circumstances and motivations of females (Kelley et al., 2017; Welter et al., 2017).

Considering the integral role that women entrepreneurs have not only in advancing socio-economic growth but also gender equality (Bullough et al., 2022), and the arguments of social role theory (Eagly, 2013) that posits beliefs individuals have about men and women are generated from vicarious experiences of the roles that they perform within a society, we hold two overriding objectives for the current contribution. Firstly, through the use of a case study approach we document the journey of a successful female entrepreneur in a Spanish context. Secondly, we provide a non-exhaustive list of suggestions of the teaching and learning opportunities that can be extracted from the case.

Our goal is to provide a teaching case that can be used to inspire students to engage in entrepreneurial behaviour. Through a case study of a successful female entrepreneur and documenting her journey we can begin to unveil a more inclusive approach to entrepreneurial possibilities for our students.

In what follows we provide the theoretical motivation for the creation of the case. Next, we outline the methodology used. We then provide the case narrative detailing the entrepreneurial journey travelled by Lucía Mompo the founder of Malferida a Spanish mission-driven healthy soft drinks company. After this process of contextualisation, we discuss possible teaching and learning possibilities available. These can be used as a key driver of debate within the classroom.

Theoretical motivation for the teaching case

Progression in the field of female entrepreneurship has been fuelled by the commitment and passion of top scholars such as Candida Brush, Friederike Welter, Susan Marlow, Helene Ahl and Maura McAdam to name but a select few. Their efforts have helped to identify several commonly cited constraints for female entrepreneurs, including restricted access to funding, lack of experience, and limited network connections, that are associated with, and deemed necessary for, the building of start-ups (Verheul and Thurik, 2001). In deterministic fashion these restraints can steer females toward gendered, and traditionally lower value, forms of entrepreneurship (Ahl, 2004).

Consequently, we have witnessed an overrepresentation of females in industries characterised by their ease of access, that are saturated, and that are profit-constrained, such as in education or personal healthcare (Harrison et al., 2020). Over time these gendered norms and expectations become engrained and taken-for-granted within the social context in which they are created, learned and reinforced (Swail and Marlow, 2018). A masculinised view of entrepreneurship has ensued, that is then diffused through popular media discourse potentially disempowering and demotivating female students from an entrepreneurial lifepath (Bird and Brush, 2002; Elliott et al., 2021; Gupta et al., 2008; McRobbie, 2009; Ogbor, 2000).

Women in entrepreneurship can become hidden behind media (mis)representations of ‘stereotypical’ entrepreneurs that negatively impact on opportunities for vicarious learning (Onjewu et al., 2021). Vicarious experiences are an important form of antecedent learning (a stimulus occurring before the behaviour and that can influence participation in a behaviour) stressed by Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977). Students, if afforded the opportunity to observe and learn from role models, become less dependent on direct experience as a means for learning and instead can avoid costly and potentially entrepreneurship deterring errors (Davey et al., 2016). Given that people are guided by prior conceptions, rather than consequences of behaviour, that inform what must be done (Bandura, 1977), entrepreneurial role models represent an important mechanism for the development of desirability and feasibility perceptions of an entrepreneurial career pathway (Byrne et al., 2019).

Vicarious learning relies on imitative behaviours that can create expectancy beliefs about one’s level of competence to perform a specific task and the potential for a given outcome. Therefore, having entrepreneurial role models may increase a student’s belief in their entrepreneurial self-efficacy as the observed behaviours offer an example of mastery via the exposure to the successful experiences of others (Austin and Nauta, 2016). Role models can expand the realms of possibility for our students. They can ignite and fuel imagination making the impossible seem possible. It has been shown that same gender role models – particularly when choosing to violate traditional gender expectancies - can increase confidence in female undergraduate students’ perceptions of their entrepreneurial ability (Bechthold and Rosendahl Huber, 2018).

Worrisome are the findings that entrepreneurs commonly used in business cases for educational purposes tend to be men (Symons and Ibarra, 2014). Case studies as an educational tool shape existing and future practice as well as professional identities through helping students develop analytical, decision making, and problem-solving skills, however, may also lead to unintended learning outcomes that reinforce gender role expectancies and idealised entrepreneurship types (Sharen and McGowan, 2019). Symons, (2016) notes that women assume the role of protagonist in a mere eight out of 74 award winning and best-selling cases and in some scenarios are characterised as having less ambition and less appetite for risk compared to men (Sharen and McGowan, 2019). This is something that Harvard Business School has explicitly addressed and announced as a strategic imperative, that is, the will to increase the quantity of females represented within their cases (Byrne, 2014). Absence of female entrepreneurial role models removes a key buffer for students against the influence of threats to their stereotype increasing the possibility of unfair or unequal treatment when their behaviours or thought processes deviate from the norm.

Potential female entrepreneurs are being constrained by these socially ascribed gendered roles by a ‘hidden curriculum’ that questions the role of women in business and entrepreneurship (Sharen and McGowan, 2019). In many respects, female students face the paradox of trying to meet society’s expectation to fit in, whilst, at the same time, if they want to embark on an entrepreneurial career, they need to be disruptive, unique and unconventional. Thus, they are confronted with extreme difficulty in a search for legitimacy. As it stands there is a dearth of female entrepreneurs represented in case studies that can serve as referents normalising the success of females in entrepreneurship.

In response, and building on the belief that theoretically, if highly visible, a single role model (case) can provide an extremely powerful source of antecedent learning (Austin and Nauta, 2016), we provide a case study incorporating a variation of a life history narrative of a young female entrepreneur through piecing together personal interviews with the entrepreneur, internal company documents and publicly available secondary sources of data. Our commitment is to tell the story of a successful female entrepreneur trying to uncover how she experienced the world.

Methodology

Case context

We selected our case due to the potential influence that it could have on encouraging more young female students to embark on an entrepreneurial career pathway. Specifically, we chose the entrepreneur given her relative success and her psychology proximity to university students (having only recently graduated herself).

The context of our case could be considered interesting. At a national level, Spain has undergone significant social, political, economic, and cultural upheaval in the past decades creating a complex, but improving, situation for female entrepreneurs (OEE, 2021). Women in Spain have traditionally suffered restricted access to education and employment with historically embedded norms contributing to high levels of inequality and labour market segregation. Even after Spain’s transition to democracy, women continued to face challenges of lower wages, higher levels of unemployment, and work-family conflicts; the legacy effects of which are still felt today (Árbol-Pérez and Entrena-Durán, 2021).

Spanish females are underrepresented in certain industries such as in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and so too within top management positions where hurdles including gender stereotypes, biases, lack of role models and limited opportunities for career advancement remain (McKinsey and Company, 2023). In entrepreneurship, women in Spain have shown a lower rate of entrepreneurial activity than men, due to myriad factors including lower access to financial resources, education, training networks, social support and the disproportionate negative impact that the pandemic has had on the female demographic (OEE, 2021).

The introduction of the Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia (Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan) (Gobierno de España, 2021) for the deployment of the European Next Generation EU recovery funds laid out the roadmap for the modernisation of the Spanish economy and its recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Within this plan Spain explicitly signalled its intent to reduce structural barriers hindering women’s access into the labour market, recognising the need to increase the quantity and quality of socio-economic opportunities.

As such, one of the cornerstones of the recovery plan is the initiative España Nación Emprendedora (Spain Entrepreneurial Nation) (Gobierno de España, 2021a) that aims to generate a new and inclusive economic model based on innovative and high added value forms of entrepreneurial activity. Associated with Spain Entrepreneurial Nation is the new Startup Law: “Ley 28/2022, de 21 de diciembre, de fomento del ecosistema de las empresas emergentes”, designed to facilitate the creation of innovative ventures through simplifying administrative burdens, providing favourable tax regimes and attracting international talent to Spain.

There is clear ambition within governmental policy to promote gender equality through these various levers. For example, the Startup Law is motivated by the need to incorporate female entrepreneurial talent into the startup ecosystem. The state-owned company “Empresa Nacional de Innovación Sociedad Anónima” (ENISA) that provides alternative financial support for small businesses and start-ups has created a specific line of financing with a budget of €51 million aimed at reducing the gender gap in the field of innovative entrepreneurship.¹ To be eligible to access ENISA’s participatory loan scheme companies must have one or more females in a leadership role, for example, as part of the management team. A Women’s Observatory to monitor and analyse the situation and evolution of female entrepreneurs in Spain, as well as identify and disseminate good practices and success stories has been proposed. A Women’s Entrepreneurship Plan to provide support, mentorship, training and finance to female entrepreneurs, and the incorporation of gender perspectives in policies and programmes to consider idiosyncratic entrepreneurial needs have also been elaborated. Many more similar governmental and EU-based initiatives exist (eg., “The Break. Programa de Atracción de Talento Femenino”).

Ways are being sought at the national level to overcome traditional gender role stereotypes that have engulfed the country. Encouraging more females into entrepreneurship is viewed as a means for social justice and a motor for academic, economic, social and scientific advancement that will strengthen Spain’s democracy and increase its competitiveness. Yet, given the nascency of these measures there is a lack of hard evidence and stories of success to suggest they will work in the specific Spanish environment and that can also act as inspiration for future generations. We believe that the sub-context provided by the privately governed entrepreneurial ecosystem - Marina de Empresas (MdE) – through which our case unfolds provides a unique sandbox opportunity to gain insight into the impact that an entrepreneurship promoting, gender inclusive and support-oriented culture can have on female entrepreneurship.

MdE – created by the Spanish entrepreneur Juan Roig - is a privately governed entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) that evolved from three previously discrete sub-units (EDEM Business School a non-profit foundation formed in 2002, Lanzadera a start-up incubator and accelerator formed in 2013, and Angels an entrepreneurial financing company formed in 2009) that were brought together in the same geographical location in 2015 with the mission of training (EDEM), supporting (Lanzadera) and funding (Angels) entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial students. MdE represents a commitment to society by creating wealth and employment through the promotion of entrepreneurship as a viable career pathway for all irrespective of their demographic, economic or social background. Of the three core institutions two have female leaders at their helm (EDEM and Lanzadera) whilst the president of EDEM, Hortensia Roig, is also an influential female leader. This has meant that the promotion and integration of females in society, business and entrepreneurship has always occupied a prominent position in the ecosystem’s values and practices.

Data capture and analysis

Our aim was to develop a teaching case to be applied in the classroom and therefore a single case study approach was used whereby the main methods for data collection were through primary (e.g., several face-to-face semi-structured interviews with the entrepreneur) and secondary (e.g., consulting various media publications such as newspaper articles) sources of information. From June 2019 until July 2022, we engaged in an iterative process of capturing and analysing data. In a three-stage – yet overlapping – process we firstly created a case narrative of Lucía Mompo and her career trajectory by chronologically ordering the data. The second phase consisted of constructing the main themes that composed the narrative through the manual coding of significant events, experiences and cognitions. Finally, we compared and contrasted the themes of this narrative against existing literature, with the entrepreneur herself, and with other significant actors in her journey, given their capacity to help triangulate and validate the accuracy of the case (e.g., we informally conversed and presented the case to three past professors, a past classmate, and her project director in the incubator).

Teaching case

Origins of the idea

The inhabitants of a small Valencian municipality claim that in 1880 - 6 years before the syrup from which Coca-Cola began to build its empire in the United States – they had already invented a similar drink made from kola nuts and the extract of coca leaves from Peru. In the town of Aielo de Malferit, the founders of the “Micó” liquor factory, Bautista Aparici Belda and Enrique Ortiz, began experimenting with the creation of various liquors which captured the attention of the locals and beyond through their provocative names, including ‘Perfect Love’ and ‘Tears of the Taxpayer’.

Bautista was given the responsibility of selling the concoctions forcing him to journey across the world. In 1886 he travelled to Philadelphia with a new type of drink made from African kola nuts and coca leaves from Peru that had previously won awards for innovation in Milan and Chicago and would later win further awards in London and Paris. In Philadelphia, at an international exposition Bautista came into contact with several representatives from American companies that were highly impressed by the Aielo liquor ‘Cola-Coca’ samples that he was offering. Just a year later the American Pharmacist John Pembelton, who happened to attend the exposition, introduced his unique invention: Coca-Cola. At the time it was extremely easy to copy someone else’s product as a patent filing was usually withheld until after the product was proven to be a success in the market. Eventually, the Kola Coca Nut was patented in Spain in 1903, however, by this stage Coca-Cola had already begun its path to domination in the United States.

This story is one of local folklore and has acted as a source of inspiration for Malferida, a start-up that originated from the ingenuity and creativity of an award-winning young female entrepreneur who was born in the same town of Aielo de Malferit. Lucía Mompo believed in the idea for a natural and healthy cola-based drink whilst studying for her final year in the undergraduate degree of Business Administration at EDEM Business School (EDEM). Coca Cola had always been in the public eye, however, during 2015 it was receiving renewed interest, especially within media outlets celebrating the company’s 100-years anniversary that did not go unnoticed by the young entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur’s background

Lucía had a strong motivation to follow in the footsteps of her parents who themselves are entrepreneurs operating in the hospitality sector. She had observed the reality of what it meant to start and grow a business, from dealing with suppliers to building and managing a team. As a teenager whilst still at high school, Lucía would give up most of her weekends and her summers working in her parents’ bars as a waitress where she held a strong curiosity to learn more about the underlying functioning of the business. She noted that this professional experience was fundamental for the success of her entrepreneurial journey as it provided her with her first opportunity to interact with real customers. The experience opened up a real possibility for entrepreneurship as she began to decide which career she wanted to follow after secondary school. However, there were several doubts that remained:“I was still uncertain. I knew it was a possibility, but I wasn’t 100% sure. I didn’t have an idea. I always thought that when I finish my degree, I will give it more serious thought. If not now, then definitely in the future.”

Upon deciding which university and specific course to choose Lucía was clear that she wanted to stand out. It was not enough for her to study a traditional degree in Business Administration. She wanted to be different. She was seriously considering opting for a degree in Marketing when she fortuitously attended a university careers fair at her school. In attendance was EDEM, a young privately governed non-profit university that had a real entrepreneurial focus appearing to fit her needs perfectly. Lucía was further encouraged toward this option by her parents given that her father had read about EDEM in the local press, and, for him, it was a project that was like no other in Valencia or even in the whole of Spain. Lucía recalled that for her father it was something extremely unique but at the time she didn’t truly appreciate its potential value.

After having spoken to EDEM at the career’s fair Lucía was finally attracted by the practicality of the university’s offer. She was going to benefit from work experience every summer, classes focused on real world problems, and developing a strong professional experience. For Lucía it was a distinct way to approach business education. Having completed the rigorous and personalised selection process she was eventually accepted into EDEM in September 2014. EDEM was perceived as an extremely important component in the entrepreneur’s life as she commented: “I think that if EDEM didn’t exist I would not have Malferida.”

EDEM provided the belief for Lucía that she could be an entrepreneur. Although EDEM offered financial assistance in the form of grants, the most valuable aspect of EDEM was seen as the opportunities for work experience each summer. She had accumulated a total of 1 year’s experience by the end of her university studies including working in the largest supermarket chain in Spain learning the importance of teamwork and setting high expectations; a multi-national hygiene and cosmetics company discovering the world of human resources and how to manage people; a language academy in Ireland where she acted as a point of reference for the students to confide in; and finally working on her own business project in the incubator Lanzadera.

Was the idea an opportunity?

In order to validate her initial raw idea, she decided to carry out a feasibility study which formed the central focus for her final year undergraduate dissertation. Lucía was convinced that this was “an ideal opportunity to experience what being an entrepreneur was really like” with an added bonus of minimal risk exposure. Being located within the entrepreneurial ecosystem provided the students of EDEM with an option of being able to develop their own entrepreneurial projects in the ecosystem’s start-up incubator for 4 months. Out of the 45 students that formed part of Lucía’s class, 22 decided to complete a personal business creation project for their final dissertation. Lucía was the only female of these 22.

The option of developing your own business in the incubator meant that students could benefit from a range of support services from having an experienced project mentor and being immersed in a community of real-world entrepreneurs, to improved options of finance and having the prestige of being associated with an incubator that was being supported by one of the most successful businesspeople in Spanish history, Juan Roig.

She began by setting a clear mission statement for her start-up, to “Develop and sell natural and healthy cola-based soft drinks”. The company’s values were to be built on a concern for health and well-being, quality, innovation and sustainable development. From the outset Lucia knew that she wanted to be different from what was already available and decided that Malferida would not follow the common market strategies of low price and low quality, but, instead, focus on high quality sold at higher prices. Lucía wanted to build upon the example set by “La Socarrada” a premium craft beer from Valencia. La Socarrada was able to stand out from other major brands through using the unusual ingredients of rosemary and honey in the production of its beer creating an aura of intrigue within customers.

The initial stages of the project were firmly grounded in determining the feasibility of her product. This task involved numerous business gestation related behaviours such as completing validation activities that ranged from developing hypotheses and testing these through customer questionnaires, to the creation and testing of a minimal viable product. The main questions Lucía sought to answer was whether there was a need for a natural health-focused cola drink in the Spanish market and if consumers were becoming more health conscious.

Lucía found the consumer landscape to be more complex than ever before. Spanish consumers had become more demanding and were increasingly interested in knowing the composition, origin and manufacturing processes of the food and drinks that they were consuming. Lucía began to recognise that the market for soft drinks was dominated by large multinationals and that it was extremely difficult to find alternative brands with a closer connection to the consumer and whose ingredients were not as harmful to one’s health.

There was a very evident trend that individuals were now searching for sugar-free options. Consumers were increasingly attracted toward natural products offering a balanced nutritional profile. Therefore, to effectively compete, Lucía realised that Malferida must appeal to this modern segment of health-conscious shopper. The category of ‘better-for-you’ soft drinks, for example, was emerging that focused on beverages emphasizing health-benefits as they are made with little or no sugar. Such drinks were already occupying 70% of hyper-market and supermarket shelves. In general, the perception among the Spanish public was that there was an incompatibility of traditional soft drinks with the very prominent health and wellness trend emphasizing prevention instead of treatment of disease and illness.

In studying the market Lucía wanted to find out whether customers were willing to pay more for a drink that was perceived as higher quality, and, additionally, to determine the best location to sell her product. She discovered that cola-based soft drinks could be grouped into two major categories:

1. Those packaged using glass and that are predominantly aimed at hotels, restaurants and cafeterias (HORECA).

2. Those packaged in cans and that are predominantly aimed at larger retailers.

Lucía didn’t want to consider a third possible category which was those packaged using plastic Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) (a type of plastic widely used for beverages and textiles) since plastic was judged a material that was misaligned with Malferida’s values. Lucía decided to visualise each market through positioning Malferida onto a graph comparing colas with zero sugar. On the Y-axis was the perceived value of the soft drink and on the X-axis price for the customer.

The first graph plots Malferida against glass bottles usually sold to the HORECA channel (Figure 1). The main brands in the Spanish market were found to be Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Fritz-Kola. She noticed that Coca-Cola offered the lowest price for hoteliers and was eager to find out why. She spoke to the owner of a restaurant chain that was located in the same ecosystem community to which she belonged. The owner explained to her that Coca-Cola looks to sell in large quantities and therefore can offer their drinks at greater discounts. This would encourage the restaurants to consume more to benefit from a cheaper price per unit. The average price of €0.61 was therefore likely to be appealing for many restaurants.

Figure 1.

Glass bottle competitors in the Spanish market (x-axis = price and y-axis = perceived value).

However, she viewed the product as an unhealthy option as it contained many additives and harmful sweeteners. Pepsi followed the same line as Coca-Cola with a comparatively high price and similar ingredients. Fritz-Kola was a lesser-known German zero sugar soft drink brand that contained the least sugar making it the healthiest option. However, it was not 100% natural. Furthermore, its price was much higher than the other brands at approximately €0.90 per unit.

Lucía concluded that in the HORECA channel Malferida would position itself as a lower priced alternative to Fritz-Kola but higher than that of Pepsi. Malferida would be recognised as the most complete option for those that are health conscious. On the other hand, if Malferida decided to enter the aluminium canned market a lot more competition existed (Figure 2). This option was seen as less viable as it required very large minimum orders and Malferida was far from these volumes as it hadn’t even acquired its first customer.

Figure 2.

Glass bottle competitors in the Spanish market (x-axis = price and y-axis = perceived value).

It was clear that the market for soft drinks was dominated by large multinationals and that it was extremely difficult to find natural and healthy alternatives with a closer connection to the consumer. Given the positive feedback from her research an artisanal niche was carved out with the ambition to serve an emerging demographic that was becoming increasingly health conscious, seeking alternatives to the many soft drinks existing in the market, and, importantly, were willing to pay a premium. The value proposition of Malferida came from its positioning as a healthy option that contained no sugar, was composed of natural ingredients (without conservatives and aspartame), was bottled using recyclable materials, and was produced locally. This meant that it was ideally positioned to meet three main types of customer profile. Firstly, those searching for a local product. Second, for those that cannot consume large quantities of sugar such as diabetics. Finally, those with a preference for natural products who often find it difficult to encounter soft drinks to suit their particular dietary and personal needs.

Producing the cola

Having validated a market need and potential customer group, Malferida now faced the challenge of creating a product that could appeal to this modern segment of health-conscious shopper through innovation and reformulation. In creating the drink, the entrepreneur questioned how someone with limited to no experience in the area could produce a cola that people wanted to buy. Not deterred, she attempted to manufacture it from her own home with very little success. She quickly realised that professional knowledge and expertise was required. Malferida had to find manufacturers and bottlers that, although accustomed to dealing with orders of large quantities, were not only willing to accept much smaller quantities (as little as one box) but would help in the development of the cola formula.

After much effort and time spent searching, she was finally able to recruit the help of an external company who provided their experience and expertise in a process which involved the collection of soft drinks and taste-testing them to determine ingredients and flavours. Afterwards, it was a question of experimenting through combining and modifying her own recipe to find one that worked (see Figure 3 for testing sample examples and Figure 4 for the technical data sheet of the product). In the end, after testing it with family, friends, her project director and members of the ecosystem, a patented formula was created that was unique to Malferida. The final version of the product was available for sale in September 2018 (8 months after the initial project commenced).

Figure 3.

Numbered samples during the cola formula production phase.

Figure 4.

Technical data sheet.

First sales and overcoming obstacles

On the same date, Lucía was accepted into the first phase of the incubator Lanzadera which was then named “Campus”. The entrepreneur officially registered her company with the help of the incubator’s legal department and started to sell straight away by travelling from bar to bar attempting to persuade owners to purchase her product. She soon accumulated a small but significant client base that served to reinforce her belief in the venture. Although strongly supported by the entrepreneurial ecosystem, for example she received an internal loan of €6000 to support promotional activities, there were several additional obstacles that still had to be overcome.

Perhaps the most pressing of these were those of her age and gender. The entrepreneur recalled that when engaging in business deals these two factors were almost always an issue when negotiating with potential clients. For instance, in March 2019 she attended a gastronomy fair and enlisted the help of her friends and family to support her. On different occasions throughout the fair the entrepreneur recalls several members of the public asking to speak to the owner of the company believing that she was a hired promotional worker.

This was also a frequent occurrence when speaking to potential distributors, particularly those that were male, who’s first impression was that she was not the person behind the business: “When I have to do a business deal, maybe it’s because of my age or because I am a woman, it can be difficult. The first impression for many people is that I am not the person behind Malferida. They are looking for the ‘typical’ male figure of a boss.”

The entrepreneur explained that this scenario happened on so many occasions that she assumed that it was normal. Although the first time was difficult for her to process and respond to, interestingly, this is something that she felt she could use as leverage via its tactical application. For example, by withholding her knowledge and experience she found that some customers were willing to offer more attractive deals. In contrast, within the internal boundaries of the ecosystem, she could see that there was actually a lot of people who value youth and exuberance as they think that behind the bottle there is a young girl trying to achieve something for herself and society. Being a member of Marina de Empresas ecosystem offered her a social buffer and provided a source of confidence in her suitability and importance as an entrepreneur. It offered a microculture that went against the cultural male-dominant grain, and she noted that “in this ecosystem we are very used to seeing young female entrepreneurs doing innovative and creative things. Here it is normal to be sitting next to a recent graduate who is billing €500,000 per month”.

New points of sale beyond Valencia and key revenue Channels

Malferida has been operating in the Spanish market since September 2018. Attending a gastronomy fair in Alicante financed by the incubator in March 2019 allowed Lucía to gain exposure to many potential clients and importantly her first distributors. This opened up several new points of sale. It also meant that the business model was evolving as Lucía was no longer reliant on the previous time and energy consuming direct door-to-door sales strategy but could now tap into experienced and more efficient industry operators with many connections to potential buyers (see Figure 5 for Malferida’s main revenue channels). As a relative novice to the area, Lucía made an explicit attempt to work with smaller distributors whereby the relationship was closer and more trusting.

Figure 5.

Malferida’s main revenue channels.

The strategy of attending industry-related trade fairs and looking for intermediaries appeared to be a very useful one to grow the business and in June and July of 2019 Malferida participated in more than 10 fairs and small artisanal markets either through their own marketing stand or through selling the product in the main bar of the event. With the help of these events Malferida managed to be present in 200 points of sale in the Valencian Community on a recurrent basis. By December of the same year, Malferida had acquired their first clients in Barcelona finding a distributor who helped them reach more stores. During the same period, they were able to gain access to several points of sale in Madrid that were supplied directly from Valencia. This was an important leap beyond the boundaries of Malferida’s local market and also saw them receive a lot more exposure in the national press.

Using this distribution revenue channel allowed Malferida to adopt an agile approach to both production and recruitment whereby the entrepreneur is the only individual working permanently in the business. That-being-said, she employs students as interns to recycle opportunities back into the Marina de Empresas ecosystem and also has had to employ individuals for peak moments such as when receiving large order volumes. In this way, the distributor assumes the risk as they buy the product directly from Malferida and then resell to their clients at a mark-up. Further, the entrepreneur does not have to incur the high inventory costs as Malferida is produced to order.

As the company evolved Lucía began to test an online channel through using a third-party marketplace “Correos Market”. This online sales channel was gaining traction, so she decided to launch her own online store on the company`s website in March 2020. An online store had always been something that she contemplated, however, the transition to selling online through her own website was accelerated due to the onset of the global Covid-19 health pandemic in early 2020 that saw the complete closure of her HORECA channel – the only source of revenue at the time. At the same time other strategic moves, including developing a wider product portfolio, had to be placed on hold. Lucía mentioned “You know that in your life picture that this is going to be small and, in many ways, insignificant, but difficult decisions have to be made.” Her full focus was directed towards limiting the negative fallout of the pandemic which appeared particularly dangerous for Malferida as the product was not a necessity and was something that people could live without.

A website was developed within 3 weeks and the opening of this new online channel led Lucía to design a different sales strategy designed for a specific customer profile (now direct to consumer) motivating her to work more on digital marketing and design strategies to enhance the start-up’s e-commerce ability. Malferida was now opened up to the whole of Spain during a critical moment for the start-up and sales began to grow (see Figure 6). Malferida started to invest €500 per month on Facebook Ads (something Lucía had gained first-hand experience with on a course offered by Lanzadera) receiving €3.32 for every euro they spent. Malferida attracted traffic to their website through targeted messages that were sent directly to their buyer persona. In the store they offer packs of different quantities and prices, designed to encourage potential buyers to trial the product and when satisfied and connected with the brand they can begin to make purchases in larger quantities. The prices for a pack of four units is €10; a pack of 12 units is €20 and a pack of 24 units is €38.

Figure 6.

Malferida’s online sales channel growth.

Malferida’s third revenue channel is via large retail stores that afford them the possibility for mass distribution. These are represented through supermarkets and hypermarkets that, although are extremely competitive for shelf space, place larger orders, which are supplied directly and with Malferida receiving payment within 60 days. During the Covid-19 pandemic Lucía was very active on LinkedIn and decided to write to the purchasing manager for Carrefour of the Valencian area offering the opportunity for them to sell Malferida in their stores. After several e-mails and phone calls where Lucía explained more about who she was and her product, Carrefour agreed to stock Malferida in their Valencian hypermarket stores in July 2020.

At the time, Carrefour were very active in trying to provide opportunities to local, sustainable products and Malferida appeared to represent an attractive option. Malferida is typically sold to these buyers at a set price per unit with the recommended retail price being €2.22 per unit. Initially this option was not feasible for Malferida however as the brand started to grow and via Lucía’s ingenuity during the pandemic other major retailers were starting to take notice (see Figure 7). On average Malferida gets three leads per day from people interested in working with them including those recruited by distributors already working with the start-up.

Figure 7.

Malferida’s supermarket sales growth.

What next?

By June of 2021 Lucía was well and truly achieving something special. In just over 2 years Malferida was located in over five hundred points of sale with over 100,000 bottles of Malferida sold. They had developed a presence in notable Valencian restaurant chains such as Lamburguesa (10 restaurants in Valencia); well-known establishments in the vegan and vegetarian world such as Khambú, la Casa Viva, The Began and The Vurger, as well as in international supermarket chains such as Carrefour in the Valencian region (an average order value of 800 units per month). Malferida had developed strong operations outside of Valencia in Barcelona and Madrid. However, to cope with the pace of this expansion, and an agreed deal with the international supermarket chain Aldi that would see their product in 100% of Aldi’s 360 stores across all of Spain by August, the entrepreneur needed access to external funding to meet these demands.

The question arose: What should her next move be?

Teaching note for educators

Socialisation processes and learning experiences can shape an individual’s preference to engage with entrepreneurship. Given that female founders have a positive impact on the perceptions of other females regarding entrepreneurship as an occupational career choice it is useful for us to celebrate their achievements. There has been an historical dearth of female entrepreneurs that can serve as useful role models. We have sought to narrow this inspiration gap through the provision of a case study detailing the journey of a young female entrepreneur. This can at once reduce informational asymmetries associated with gender and entrepreneurship, and so too, encourage more females to pursue an entrepreneurial career.

In the end the young female entrepreneur has been successful in building her company on her own terms. With a supportive environment and a creative vision, she has been able to achieve great success. As of today, Malferida closed its crowdfunding round and has since expanded to more supermarket chains including El Corte Inglés (the largest department store group in Europe).

We now provide a teaching note detailing the possible ways the case could be used in class allowing facilitators to discuss pertinent issues.

Case synopsis

This case study can be used in introductory entrepreneurship, financial entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship classes. It demonstrates the entrepreneurial journey of a young female entrepreneur who was supported by a privately governed entrepreneurial ecosystem as she attempted to enter into a crowded and competitive industry landscape. The case could also be applied to courses in the food industry highlighting the choices made surrounding the sourcing, manufacturing, and delivery of a healthy soft drink product.

Although many possibilities exist to link the case with entrepreneurial literature and concepts, we offer guidance on a few select issues that can be integrated at various stages within a course/subject. For example, it can be useful to focus on teaching and learning outcomes 1 and 2 at the beginning of a course when students are first exposed to entrepreneurship, whereas outcomes 3, 4 and 5 are perhaps better suited to situations where the students have already developed a strong theoretical and practical entrepreneurship knowledge base.

Our teaching and learning outcome suggestions are designed to provide a parsimonious guide for analysis and comparison and by are no means exclusive nor exhaustive.

Possible teaching and learning outcomes

1. Gain awareness of the specific and more general challenges and obstacles confronted by a young female entrepreneur trying to enter a saturated and competitive industry.

2. Explore different motivational factors that influence a young female’s entry into entrepreneurship (for example, family background, career goals, experience etc).

3. Critically examine the role of context as a facilitator/inhibitor of student entrepreneurship.

4. Analyse the process of idea creation and business opportunity development of a health-based product.

5. Assess the validity of various funding methods available for young entrepreneurs and how these may change throughout the development process.

To begin the discussion on the case, it is useful to ask the students to name an entrepreneur. Common responses are likely to include household names such as Elon musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs. It is much rarer to have female entrepreneurs mentioned. A simple search of Google images using the search term ‘famous entrepreneurs’ will also corroborate this socialised and media enhanced perception of entrepreneurship. An alternative approach could be to have the students draw what they believe a successful entrepreneur looks like.

We recommend that students become familiar with the specific Spanish context. You may choose to do this by offering the brief overview of female entrepreneurship we have provided earlier in this manuscript. Alternatively, have students work in small groups to research the context themselves and then share their findings with the whole class.

Teaching tip

You may wish to cover several questions in one session, or, instead, as recommended by the current authors, devote time for a deeper analysis on one particular topic per session. This means that you can recycle and align the case with the specific phases of learner development throughout the course.

1. What are the factors driving the entrepreneur’s decision to create their own business?

2. What are the struggles and challenges faced from a diversity, equity and inclusion perspective?

3. What are the struggles and challenges faced from entering and operating in the specific health-based soft drinks industry?

4. What are the potential struggles and challenges faced from external disruptive events?

5. What are the benefits of entrepreneurship intermediaries and support mechanisms?

6. What are the possible financing options that the entrepreneur has in moving forwards and why?

Discussion area answer guidance with recommended prior knowledge of students (possible answers are for educators only):

1. What are the factors driving the entrepreneur’s decision to create their own business?

Recommended prior knowledge

This question is useful for the start of a course/subject and therefore no specific prior knowledge is required.

Possible answer

Academic experience

EDEM University Centre has a core mission to promote entrepreneurship and leadership. While studying in this unique environment the entrepreneur found something that she was interested in, could personally commit to, and that was nurtured by a supportive institutional environment. When entering university she knew at some point that she wanted to become an entrepreneur but the main obstacle for her was a lack of a clear idea. The culture in which she was embedded opened her mind to a range of possibilities. For example, 22 of her classmates decided to create their own entrepreneurial projects. Furthermore, many of her lessons were delivered by businesspeople sharing their real-life experiences and problems that brought her closer to how the real world of work functions.

Practical work experience

Each year she was required to engage in at least 1 month’s work experience either within a company, start-up or through developing her own project. This allowed her to build general business capital (`jack of all trades’) whilst also develop more specific entrepreneurial capital. During her time in the incubator she was assigned a personal project director that could provide her with advice, guidance and support along her entrepreneurial journey.

Family influence

The entrepreneur was raised in an environment surrounded by business. Her family owned three bars where she worked as an adolescent helping her to understand the more intricate details of how to start and grow a company. Her father played a core role in promoting and transmitting the values of hard work and effort.

Location

The town where she grew up provided an ideal narrative which inspired the creation of her product. This storyline also serves as a key competitive advantage that is effectively used by the entrepreneur to generate interest and an emotional connection with her product. It provides a clear reason why she is doing what she is doing and offers a useful mechanism for convincing potential investors. However, it is relevant to consider the potential detrimental impact this may have as she begins to expand her operations further from the start-up’s origins as it could influence scalability of the product.

Passion for the food industry

Having grown up surrounded by the food and drink industry she became frustrated with a lack of healthy soft drink options. She was able to tentatively validate the existence a problem as she was experiencing it in her day-to-day life. It was something that she cared about and wanted to find a solution for.

2. What are the struggles and challenges faced from a diversity, equity and inclusion perspective?

Recommended prior knowledge

It is useful if students have some knowledge on the challenges faced by females both within business and specifically in entrepreneurship. It is also beneficial if they have some understanding on the concepts of signalling and impression management.

You may wish to assign the following article(s) to read prior to the session:

• Eight Major Challenges Women Face in Business (Cheng, 2018)

• How Entrepreneurs Use Symbolic Management to Acquire Resources (Zott and Huy, 2007)

Possible answer

Diversity

Differences in gender made it difficult for her to gain legitimacy within the industry. However, she was not afraid to act irrespective of her limitations. For example, she pushed herself to go out and sell her product door to door.

Equity

The entrepreneur was treated fairly within the entrepreneurial ecosystem context, however, when she ventured ‘outside’ it’s boundaries, sometimes this was problematic. At a fundamental level she was provided the opportunity (through her academic achievement) to enter the ecosystem and benefit from the same opportunities as all other students. She could develop her business project in the final year of her degree accessing the incubator/accelerator.

Inclusion

The entrepreneurial ecosystem welcomed and respected the participation of everyone. Nobody was denied access based on economic or social standing. They offered financial assistance in the form of grants provided for academic excellence, effort and economic circumstances.

Societal perception of male dominance in business did not demotivate her

The entrepreneur used biases as a leverage and perceived them as something positive. Internally the entrepreneurial ecosystem did not hold such biases. She was able to feel like a valued member of the community and that what she was trying to achieve (and achieving) was something that was desirable for the context and community in which she was operating.

Teaching tip

It would be useful to consider the idea of gender role stereotypes and role congruency. In the specific context in which the entrepreneur was located the majority of businesspeople and entrepreneurs were male. Accordingly, such experiences may serve to reinforce a male-typed form of entrepreneurship and business leadership. Consider having the students watch the following short video on gender bias in business: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZcH3_C90vI.

An interesting theoretical perspective to complement stereotypes and gender role theory is that of signalling theory or impression management (Zott and Huy, 2007). A popular example that can be included is Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes and more recently Sam Bankman-Fried from FTX highlighting the danger of signalling underlaying qualities that in reality don’t exist and the negative impact that this can have on certain demographics when it comes to accessing resources.

3. What are the struggles and challenges faced from operating in the specific health-based soft drinks industry

Recommended prior knowledge

It is useful if students have some knowledge on the concepts of industry analysis, market research, customer development and revenue channels.

You may wish to assign the following article(s) to read prior to the session:

• The five competitive forces that shape strategy (Porter, 2008)

• Know Your Customers “Jobs to Be Done” (Christensen et al., 2016)

• Creating Revenue Models (Neck et al., 2021)

Possible answer

When the student founded her firm in 2018 the soft drinks industry in Europe - which is defined as consisting of retail sales of a range of carbonate and non-carbonate-based drinks - showed signs of moderate growth and was valued at €161 billion. Specifically in Spain where she was located it was €10 billion with an expected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 1% until 2024 according to forecasts by Marketline the marketing research company.²

The market could be further segmented into seven different sub-categories with the entrepreneur positioning her product in the carbonated drinks (48%) category, however differentiating itself as a healthy option (‘better-for-you’). Manufacturers were only beginning to incorporate natural and healthy ingredients into their products so the entrepreneur could be described as entering the market at an optimal time. That is, the market was small and growing.³

You may wish to include a discussion on what factors can influence consumer consumption within the entrepreneur’s specific industry setting. For example, market consumption volume can be conditioned by a variety of factors such as population size, disposable income, a more health-conscious population etc.

Many suppliers had incorporated agreements with larger companies with higher quantities of orders making it difficult to access shelf-space. These spaces are normally reserved for the most popular beverages in the industry. If the entrepreneur wanted to be successful, then she would need to look for alternative channels to reach customers. The main channels open were hyper markets and supermarkets, convenience stores (off-trade) or restaurants, bars and other localities within the hospitality sector (on-trade) and vending machines.

Overall, the Spanish market has high fixed costs that intensifies competition. Hypermarkets and supermarkets are the main distribution channels with on-trade outlets also important. Retailers tend to follow a strategy of stocking brands that the consumers prefer which gives the consumer a high buying power as there are minimal costs to finding alternatives. The threat of new entrants is considered as relatively weak as the presence of well-established brands such as Coca Cola and Danone dominate the market. These big players have lots of power and benefit from economies of scale and diverse product portfolios.

There is a possibility for new entrants to achieve some success by emphasising unique production methods or health/nutritional benefits (additionally for the entrepreneur taste was also important). The entrepreneur needed to invest in manufacturing capacity in order to produce the drinks and utilised the expertise of a third-party who produced the drinks for her. A networking approach to production and bottling can decrease exit costs given fewer assets such as specialised equipment to dispose of.

Teaching tip

Here the instructor can discuss the decision of the entrepreneur to enter this specific industry knowing that her product would be competing directly with some of the world’s biggest players. Have learners analyse the business model and positioning of Malferida’s product in terms of its value proposition, the current industry offerings, and the key trends in the Spanish population.

Possible answer

Health-conscious Millennials and Gen Z consumers that are willing to pay a premium for brands that align with their values (e.g., diverse founders, sustainability-focused, mission-drive, healthy).

The Post-pandemic world in which (1) new needs have been created; (2) new challenges have been created; (3) people are likely to spend more time online; (4) people are likely to stay at home more (home as a hub) (5) health, hygiene and self-care as a priority (6) more conscious of our spending (6) focus on sustainability (e.g., reduced carbon footprint, plastic free packaging, refillable/reusable etc.)

The entrepreneur developed a narrative of how she can help her customers achieve these underlying needs. For example, she has a clear value proposition of:

• An artisanal cola-based soft drink made with natural ingredients such as kola nut extract, natural aromas, natural caffeine and zero artificial sugar. The soda is sweetened with the natural sweetener stevia (an alternative to the traditional brands that find it difficult to rid themselves with the negative health connotations of their past products).

• A patent was granted for the cola formula in 2018

• No preservatives

• Glass bottle (more eco-friendly)

• Zero-kilometre product

• Suitable for diabetics, celiacs and vegans

• Malferida has an interesting plotline that connects with many consumers. It allows them to stimulate interest through a surprising story and encourages them to find out more. This is a strategy that effectively connects the origin of the story with the consumers own lived experiences.

• Malferida is building a strong brand that connects with people that want to escape from the conventional and who are not satisfied with what society imposes on them. These individuals are conscious about what they consume and feel responsible for their consumption consequences. Malferida in bid for transparency even deploys the tagline “cola sin secretos” of the ‘cola without secrets’.

Teaching tip

Introduce the concept of Malferida’s revenue channels. This can be done by asking the learners to identify the main ways that Malferida makes money.

Possible answer

The main revenue stream that the company has is through the direct sale of the soft drink. This makes sense as it is aligned with the start-ups values and what the brand stands for. It may, however, only have an indirect effect on sales through community building.

They currently have three different income generating sales channels:

1) ‘HORECA’ Channel: They sell the product to a third-party distributor and the distributor pays Malferida within 30 days. The distributor therefore takes responsibility for selling the product. Malferida is then sold in bars or restaurants. As of today, the start-up works with 10 small or self-employed distributors distributed across Valencia, Castellón, Alicante, Murcia and Barcelona. Malferida attracts customers through cold calls and visits to potential customers by making physical visits or alternatively through small and self-employed distributors.

2) Online Channel: Malferida sells their product through their own website. They attract traffic to the webpage and try to convince them that Malferida is their best option. Here they implemented a targeted marketing campaign through direct messages. In the online store there are packs of different quantities and prices designed so that someone who does not know the brand can buy a smaller pack for less money (even if the price per unit is higher) and someone who already trusts the brand can buy the largest pack given that the price per unit is cheaper. The prices are Pack of 4 units: €10; Pack of 12 units: €20; Pack of 24 units: €38.

At the moment Malferida invests an average of €500 per month on Facebook Ads and have an ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) of €3.32. This is the percentage of income obtained in relation to the investment made. It means that for every euro spent Malferida receives €3.32.

3) Retail/Mass distribution: The supermarket (Hypermarkets Carrefour in the Valencian region) places a weekly order which is supplied directly and paid within 60 days. As of July 2021, Malferida is present in 85 ALDI stores with their own exhibitors promoting the product. As of August 2021, Malferida can be purchased in all ALDI stores throughout Spain (360).

4. What are the potential struggles and challenges faced from external disruptive events?

Recommended prior knowledge

It is useful if students have a general understanding of the structure and functioning of startups.

You may wish to assign the following article(s) to read prior to the session:

• Startups in times of crisis – A rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic (Kuckertz et al., 2020)

Possible answer

Impact of COVID-19

Uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen in a small project: “You know that in your life picture that this is going to be small and, in many ways, insignificant but difficult decisions have to be made.”

Uncertainty of market response: the product was not a necessity; it is something that people can live without.

Team size: smaller and more flexible to respond to any changes. The model of Malferida is to work with freelancers and on a project basis. However, this may also have drawbacks as the entrepreneur may feel isolated and lacking support.

Business model: A lean and less capital-intensive business model meant that Lucia had very little accounts payable at the time given that the company operates on a production block policy. That is, the entrepreneur will place large production orders each three-to-four months that represent the largest portion of Malferida´s expenditures. The entrepreneur adjusted her business model through the introduction of a new online sales channel that allowed the start-up to cover Spain in its entirety. This was not the end of a very busy period and in July 2020 Malferida found itself on the supermarket shelves of a large multinational company in the Valencia region.

Paucity of future projects: projects had to be put on ‘hold’ (interesting the choice of word, it wasn't disregarded or stopped). There was a caution in the desire to invest financially in increasing Malferida´s product portfolio. However, with the reality that she was living she felt it better to devote all her focus towards her current product attempting to minimise any additional risks.

5. What are the benefits of entrepreneurship intermediaries and support mechanisms?

Recommended prior knowledge

It is useful if students have some knowledge on the concepts of entrepreneurial ecosystems, entrepreneurship support mechanisms and entrepreneurship intermediaries.

You may wish to assign the following article(s) to read prior to the session:

• The Big Idea: How to Start an Entrepreneurial Revolution (Isenberg, 2010)

Possible answer

All start-ups begin with an idea and limited resources. The entrepreneur in the current case faced additional constraints that accentuated a liability of newness however benefited from the support (both tangible and psychological) of a privately governed entrepreneurial ecosystem designed to promote entrepreneurial behaviours.

• Contextual Influence: Being located in an entrepreneurial university meant that she was surrounded by like-minded peers (a large majority of her classmates also started a business). It provided an environment to take risks with minimal downsides. Credibility in the incubator was determined by values and not gender.

• Access to an incubator: The entrepreneur was able to develop her idea in the final year of university degree and continue as a full member of the incubator after degree completion. Here she was provided access to an individual project director/mentor, free facilities, legal support to register her company, networks etc. She also received specific and practical training covering a range of start-up related issues. For example, she received training in Facebook Ads that allowed her to better target her customers.

• Access to finance: During EDEM she was able to receive a study grant and also received an internal loan of €6000 from the incubator. This money facilitated her attendance at various trade shows and fairs. When raising money from an external crowdfunding platform association with the incubator served as an endorsement of the company and the entrepreneur.

6. What are the possible financing options that the entrepreneur has in moving forwards and why?

Recommended prior knowledge

It is essential for students have knowledge on the entrepreneurship financing process.

You may wish to assign the following article(s) to read prior to the session:

• The Economics of Small Business Finance: The Roles of Private Equity and Debt Markets in the Financial Growth Cycle (N. Berger and F. Udell, 1998)

• The role of venture capital in the emerging entrepreneurial finance ecosystem: future threats and opportunities (Bonini and Capizzi, 2019)

• The Unique Value of Crowdfunding Is Not Money — It’s Community (Mollick, 2016)

Possible answer

The entrepreneur had several options available including her own personal funds, family and friends, crowdfunding, angel investors and venture capital amongst others. It is important to highlight the entrepreneur’s own motivation and the stage in which the start-up was at in light of the resulting decision that she made. Self-financing and reliance on family and friends can only last up until a certain point after which alternative funding will need to be sought. Normally, venture capital firms will have a minimal threshold investment criterion of around €50,000 making in economically inefficient to invest in companies seeking lower amounts. However, alternative methods such as equity-crowdfunding platforms can be very useful. This is the option the entrepreneur selected.

Crowdfunding includes an open call predominantly made through an internet platform, for the provision of financial resources that can either be donations or for the exchange of a future product or some form of reward (Belleflamme et al., 2014). Crowdfunding as a platform model is a technologically enabled advancement in the landscape of venture funding. It has origins in the United Kingdom and has expanded throughout the rest of the world. Some of the more famous crowdfunding platforms include Crowdcube (UK), Indiegogo (USA), Kickstarter (USA) and OurCrowd (Israel).

The concept of crowdfunding has existed for many years and takes inspiration from innovative sources of funding such as micro-financing. In the start-up environment entrepreneurs that may find it difficult to contact an investor and raise capital have an alternative option which has been shown to be successful for artisanal, musicians and other non-high-tech entrepreneurs.

The idea is based on a networked approach that can allow entrepreneurs not only to receive funding but to also pre-test their solution with a group of motivated and interested people. Crowdfunding brings together individuals (who are not professional investors, although can be) that then decide to provide money to projects and ideas that they want to support. The process involves three main actors: the entrepreneur looking to raise money, the crowd of people who contribute relatively small amounts that are then pooled together (the ‘backers’) and the platform itself who hosts the campaign.

There are several different types of crowdfunding however Equity Crowdfunding was used by Malferida. This mode is also referred to as crowd investing where an ownership stake of the entrepreneur’s company is sold to several investors. That is, an ownership share of the company is given away.

There are also some major challenges with crowdfunding that may add a more nuanced perspective to your discussions. For example:

• The entrepreneurs may fail to meet their investment targets. This might mean that the investment might not be able to happen, or capital raised may have to be returned to the investors. In the current case this was not an issue as the entrepreneur closed an oversubscribed investment round for €70,000 in less than 24 h. The entrepreneur was explicitly told by the external platform managing her investment round to include Lanzadera on her application that may have acted as a key signal of legitimacy.

• If a campaign is successful – overfunding may occur (as was the case in this situation). This implies that the capital raised has surpassed the initial goal of the entrepreneur and could become an issue for the investor as perhaps the entrepreneur has limited knowledge in financial planning. For example, large, unexpected demands for products can result in delays and lead to very unhappy customers.

• The investors are normally not as experienced as other investor types. This has both negative consequences for the entrepreneur and the investor. For example, maybe the entrepreneur’s project could have been abandoned earlier reducing potential losses incurred or the investor may select companies that ultimately will fail. There can also be a lack of connectedness to relevant and influential resource and market networks.

• Danger of competitors: It is difficult to prevent others from copying your ideas that are freely available and accessible on the internet.

Useful web pages and press articles

https://edem.eu/en/university-centre/

https://www.enisa.es/es/financia-tu-empresa/lineas-de-financiacion/d/emprendedoras-digitales

http://facebook.com/malferida/

https://www.ft.com/content/53d08d58-5176-4352-9acd-0e5889260397

https://www.ft.com/content/8ff08246-bce6-4bc9-aa97-495a90e170bd

https://www.ft.com/content/3ab080c9-c13d-40b3-a697-9c58fd9e218c

https://www.instagram.com/malferida/

https://lanzadera.es/

https://www-linkedin-com-s.web.bisu.edu.cn/company/28974346/admin/

http://malferida.com/

https://marinadeempresas.es/

https://nacionemprendedora.gob.es/

https://www.mincotur.gob.es/en-us/recuperacion-transformacion-resiliencia/Paginas/plan-recuperacion-transformacion-resiliencia.aspx#:∼:text=ThePlanfocusesonthe,achievemaximumcounter%2Dcyclicalimpact

https://www.tiktok.com/@malferida?lang=es

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iDs

Colin Donaldson

Jorge Villagrasa

Notes

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Searching for role models: The case of Malferida the healthy cola with nothing to hide

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Theoretical motivation for the teaching case

Methodology

Case context

Data capture and analysis

Teaching case

Origins of the idea

Entrepreneur’s background

Was the idea an opportunity?

Producing the cola

First sales and overcoming obstacles

New points of sale beyond Valencia and key revenue Channels

What next?

Teaching note for educators

Case synopsis

Possible teaching and learning outcomes

Suggested discussion questions

Teaching tip

1. What are the factors driving the entrepreneur’s decision to create their own business?

Recommended prior knowledge

Possible answer

Academic experience

Practical work experience

Family influence

Location

Passion for the food industry

2. What are the struggles and challenges faced from a diversity, equity and inclusion perspective?

Recommended prior knowledge

Possible answer

Diversity

Equity

Inclusion

Societal perception of male dominance in business did not demotivate her

Teaching tip

3. What are the struggles and challenges faced from operating in the specific health-based soft drinks industry

Recommended prior knowledge

Possible answer

Teaching tip

Possible answer

Teaching tip

Possible answer

4. What are the potential struggles and challenges faced from external disruptive events?

Recommended prior knowledge

Possible answer

Impact of COVID-19

5. What are the benefits of entrepreneurship intermediaries and support mechanisms?

Recommended prior knowledge

Possible answer

6. What are the possible financing options that the entrepreneur has in moving forwards and why?

Recommended prior knowledge

Possible answer

Useful web pages and press articles

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

Funding

ORCID iDs

Notes

References