Acumen Fund

Affordable Reading Glasses for the Poor

Affordable reading glasses improve the health and productivity of low-income consumers in rural India.

Presbyopia, or aging-related reduced vision, sets in for almost everyone around age 40. In India, 20 million people fall into this category with short-sighted disability, but very few have access to vision services.
Poor eyesight in many cases means the difference between earning a livelihood and not, and is critical for quality of life and continued productivity, especially for tailors, weavers, or anybody reading or doing detailed work.

VisionSpring uses a wholesale distribution and franchising model to administer vision tests and sell low-cost reading glasses to India’s poor who are suffering from reduced vision.
VisionSpring recruits local Vision Entrepreneurs who are trained to operate a mini franchise, traveling from village to village and conducting vision camps checking eyesight and selling glasses. One pair, with a case and cleaning cloth, costs from $2.50 to $4.

More than 69,000 eyeglasses have been sold so far in 4 years of operation in India. An additional 74,000 people who have been diagnosed with eye disorders have been referred to reputed eye care clinics.
VisionSpring has trained over 720 Vision Entrepreneurs to conduct vision camps and sell VisionSpring eyeglasses – 320 of these are direct Vision Entrepreneurs while 400 pertain to various partner channels established over the years. VisionSpring is also partnering with Drishtee, an Acumen Fund investee, to sell VisionSpring's products through Drishtee’s rural Health Franchisees.