Self-efficacy in building self-identity amongst the differently abled employees of a fine dining restaurant in Mumbai has been used as the precursor to building up of a sustainable business model to create social capital. The outcome of this successful profitable business model has been able to demonstrate that such hearing and speech impaired individuals could be turned from being ‘social liabilities’ to ‘social positive assets’. The ‘social liability’ denotes to Mirchi & Mime employees being hearing and speech impaired who suffer from social, economic, financial and familial exclusion. The focal point of this study is to understand the transformation of such entities termed as ‘social liability’ to ‘social capital’ which has been possible within the span of three years. The study uses mixed method research to elicit, quantify and substantiate the building of social capital through the positive psychological, social and economic changes brought about in people who belong to the bottom of the pyramid (BoP). The study uses four different approaches to assess and validate the conceptual model and research objective. One, using survey instrument for guests (consumers) which included 32 items in total and 27 items were measured using likert type scale (5= strongly agree & 1- strongly disagree). Two, employee interview questionnaire was open ended. The questions intend to address the aspects such as regular vs special schooling, challenges experienced in daily routine, employee’s aspiration, pre-employment- economic, social and psychological condition and their post-employment changes, including their perception about the society. Three, the in-depth video-based interview with employee’s family- the questions revolved around their economic, social and psychological transformation pre and post-employment. Fourth, is personality assessment of selected few employees to understand implicit perception about ‘self’ and ‘world’. The quantitative outcome is obtained through descriptive and inferential analysis. The study empirically captures the social capital development with an extensive research from individual psycho-sociological perspective to familial- societal perspective. The study encapsulates an inward to outward outlook of hearing and speech impaired employees and how Mirchi & Mime a fine-dine restaurant (a profit making firm) has successfully converted a social liability into a social capital. Mirchi & Mime consistently maintained its top ranking on Indian restaurant search and discovery service (Zomato). Hence, the study contributes in justifying the viewpoint that social liability is a myth in fact if, employed strategically this would lead to economic and social inclusiveness and business sustainability.

• Isaac Jacob(K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research, India)
• Monica Khanna(K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research, India)
• Krupa A Rai(K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research, India)