The Solution

We are currently developing several solutions designed specifically for those who need glasses yet don't currently have them. By focusing on the group of customers that have been excluded from the eyecare industry, four requirements emerge. Any solution must be: available, low cost, scalable, and wearable. To be available, glasses should be easily purchased from a convenient local location. To be low cost, they should cost a few days' wage. In most situations, prices starting at $5 are low cost.

The majority of the people who need them have the means and desire to buy them if they were available to them at a reasonable cost. In fact, over 80% of the world's families earn more than $1/day, making inexpensive, important products such as low cost eyeglasses within.

Given the structure of the eyecare industry, we believe that there are two key components to reaching those in need of glasses:

1.	Enable and add outlets and eyecare workers, and
2.	Simplify the number of touches and cost in the value chain without sacrificing style.

In unregulated markets, we propose that micro-entrepreneurs can be successful eyecare workers. Microentrepreneurs are the dominant retail channel to poor areas around the world. Micro-entrepreneurs are also more likely to charge for their service a price that is more consistent with the local incomes of the people they are trying to serve.

There are several potentially viable approaches to reducing the complexity of the distribution system and enabling a new channel. We have been working with Saul Griffith, a PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab, to develop on-site lens production equipment. Other viable forms of simplifying the supply chain include reduced selection or pre-cut lenses.