Making glasses affordable for India's poor

• Patrick CHERRIER
  President, Essilor Asia-Pacific
  
• Jayanth BHUVARAGHAN
  Vice-president, Essilor South Asia, Middle East, South Africa and East Africa
  

Summary

There are hundreds of millions of people in rural India who need glasses to be able to see normally. However, they have problems with getting them for a number of reasons. These include the need to go to a hospital in a city to have an eye test, their total lack of financial resources and their fatalistic attitude to life. In the course of a co-operative programme carried out with Indian hospitals, Essilor discovered this area of deprivation. It subsequently designed a very low-cost production chain, a distribution network which used mobile vans and a convincing sales talk, all of which enabled Essilor to sell glasses for just a few dollars. This operation has been in place for two years and it seems that the business model has proved to be justified. Even though the scheme is still on a small scale and has a turnover of only tens of thousands of dollars, this initiative has still managed to arouse a great deal of interest amongst many people in the business community. What is emerging is an economic business in its own right.

Summary translated from French by Rachel MARLIN.

• The entire article was written by Loïc VIEILLARD-BARON and translated by Rachel MARLIN.

To obtain this article, you can :

• download it in French (PDF help) using your password or contact ecopar@paris.ensmp.fr (Reference RT210508).
• download it for free in English (PDF help) or contact ecopar@paris.ensmp.fr (Reference RT210508-ENG).

The entire article appears in French in the Journal de l'École de Paris du management N° 73.