Leaving no one behind!
Our guest blogger this week is Anurag Hans, Vice President, Base-of-Pyramid (BOP) Innovation, Market Acceleration & Operations, Essilor International
COVID-19 and the pressure it is exerting on the global economy and livelihoods around the world today is unprecedented. It is especially pronounced for those living in rural developing economies at the base of the pyramid (BoP). In India, for example, rural unemployment hit a peak of 26% in May during the lockdown with experts saying daily wage earners and low-income households are impacted most drastically. This situation is further compounded if we take into account the fact that 90% of the 2.7 billion, or 1 in 3, people suffering from uncorrected poor vision, a major public health crisis today, are from these BoP economies, and the same ones whose livelihoods are impacted by the pandemic.
At Essilor, we believe good vision is a basic human right and enables individuals to study, work and live more productively, and ultimately lead better lives. This belief underscores our ambition to eliminate uncorrected poor vision by 2050. Since uncorrected poor vision requires repeated follow-ups (adults typically need an eye exam every 2 years) rather than a one-off intervention, our main strategy to eliminate uncorrected poor vision focuses on creating sustainable access in rural areas by developing community-based vision care inclusive businesses. Besides addressing uncorrected poor vision, our inclusive business models are well-primed to help reduce rural unemployment and ease the pressures COVID-19 on livelihoods.
Eye Mitra, Miftahul Jinan.Eye Mitra training in progress. Photo courtesy of EssilorLuxottica.
Our flagship inclusive business model, Eye Mitra (Hindi for friend of the eye), focuses on addressing unmet needs for vision care by training unemployed and underemployed people to become primary vision care entrepreneurs for their communities, bringing vision care where it was unavailable before. First started in India in 2013, the program has since been adapted and expanded to Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and Kenya. The Eye Mitra model is one of many inclusive business models developed and deployed by Essilor. Together these business models represent the world’s largest rural optical network with over 17,000 primary vision care entrepreneurs, providing more than 350 million people around the world with sustainable access to vision care.
Eye Mitra training in progress. Photo courtesy of EssilorLuxottica.
There is far-reaching impact for the entrepreneurs and the people they serve through this inclusive business approach. Per an impact study we did on the Eye Mitra program in India of nearly 400 Eye Mitras serving 70,000 wearers across 6 districts, there is a total quantifiable impact of US$4.4 million a year, which includes the economic impact of increased earnings for the entrepreneur, increased income through improved productivity of wearers as well as revenues for rural suppliers and other small businesses who benefit locally. If the Eye Mitra program is scaled up to all districts in India, this would represent a total potential impact of US$487 million a year for the country. A follow-up study on the model shows that these entrepreneurs typically experience 3X – 7X increase in lifetime earnings and the total quantified impact (social return-on-investment for entrepreneurs and beneficiaries) for the model is 25X – 48X. In addition, the model has a substantial impact across 7 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with a particularly high impact on gender equality and reduction of poverty, apart from providing decent work as well as contributing to health and well-being.
Although we believe that the community-based inclusive business approach has the capacity of solving 90% of the uncorrected poor vision issue, there is also a segment of the population, the most vulnerable, who will always need help, be it through subsidized or free vision care services. For this segment, philanthropy will always play a role. At Essilor, philanthropy is so much more than writing cheques. Our philanthropic strategy is embedded within our business strategy and involves many programs and approaches which share one thing in common – they are united in their ambition to achieving long term social impact and improving lives. These include Vision For Life, our €49M grant-making fund, one of the largest in vision care, which supports all programs that address the needs of those with uncorrected poor vision and bring about socio-economic benefits for them and their communities as well as our Essilor Vision Foundations which organize philanthropic programs around the world to provide free glasses to people most in need.
Awareness and advocacy is another important area of action for us in working towards eliminating poor vision by 2050. We support the Vision Impact Institute which raises awareness to make good vision a global priority. One of its key initiatives, Kids See: Success, which advocates eye exams for children in the US before entering kindergarten, saw the introduction of the Children Eye Health Examination Bill in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We are a part of the UN Road Safety Fund and partner FIA Action for Road Safety and Michelin to drive awareness of good vision in road safety. We are also a leading partner of the state-wide See Now awareness campaign in Uttar Pradesh, India led by The Fred Hollows Foundation and fronted by celebrity ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. Raising awareness of the importance of regular eye tests to combat poor vision and avoidable blindness, the campaign is to reach 200M people with crucial messaging on eye health while offering free screenings, eyeglasses and treatment to 400,000.
The ClickCheck in use. Photo courtesy of EssilorLuxottica.
At Essilor, we also recognize the need for innovation across products, screening tools, service delivery and capacity-building as a major lever to fast-track access to vision care in rural communities. Our 2.5 New Vision Generation range of glasses is designed with the preferences and needs of BoP consumers in mind without compromising on stringent quality standards. Similarly, the ClickCheck, an innovative tool to screen for refractive errors, helps overcome the bottleneck of expensive eye-testing equipment. We are also leveraging technology to create access through telemedicine platforms, raise awareness through social media campaigns run by local community members as well as using virtual-reality and online-based training tools to help bridge the skills gap. In addition, we are poised to launch a first-of-its-kind development impact bond to foster partnerships across development agencies, grant makers, impact investors, NGOs and the private sector for the creation of rural vision care entrepreneurs. The ability of the vision care entrepreneur model to deliver impact across a multitude of areas beyond just vision care can be leveraged to attract new development funds and investment into the hitherto neglected vision care space.
With COVID-19 and its effects being here for the foreseeable future, it is critical that we accelerate our actions across inclusive business, philanthropy, awareness and advocacy as well as innovation to drive scale and impact on the dual fronts of eliminating poor vision and easing rural unemployment. Yet this is not something we can do alone. Eliminating Poor Vision in a Generation – a roadmap we launched last year with analytical support from McKinsey & Company – clearly outlines the role everyone can play in eliminating uncorrected poor vision by 2050. With this roadmap, it is our aim to rally governments, NGOs, multilateral organizations, the eye care industry and the private sector to work together to bring good vision and build livelihoods among those at the BoP.
Creating A World Where Everyone Can See. Photo courtesy of EssilorLuxottica.
That’s why we are heartened to be a part of the Vision Catalyst Fund as one of its founding partners – because of its aim to provide sustainable solutions for eye health to entire populations in Commonwealth countries and around the world through collaborations with governments and the private sector. As part of the Fund, Essilor will provide specialist knowledge and experience on how to raise awareness of good vision and create access to vision care through sustainable inclusive business models and innovation. We are also a credible source of affordable quality products designed specifically for the BoP consumer, ensuring a robust supply chain with last mile connectivity. Lastly and just as importantly, we are committed to providing 200 million people living below the poverty line with ophthalmic lenses by 2030.
We believe that through the power of many, we will be able to create a world by 2050 where no one is left behind and everyone can see well.