Case Study on Business Model of Alayem Eye Care to Reach Millions at Bottom of Pyramid

Abstract

Raja is a barber in Padavedu who used to earn one hundred rupees a day. He had a son studying in the eight standard in a nearby government school. As Raja turned forty, he was making mistakes while shaving and cutting hair due to refractive error in his eye. The village elders suggested that it was the right time for him to induct his son into his profession and retire. He discontinued his son’s education and trained him in his family profession- barber. Sivakumar, a resident from the same village and a classmate of Raja’s son was moved by the incident. A few years later Sivakumar had the opportunity to observe an eye camp that was organized in his village. He interacted with one paramedical worker in the camp, and understands the role of eye camps and optometrists. He decided that restoring eyesight to people would be his mission in life. To his greatest surprise he learnt that Raja’s eye problem could have been solved at a cost of not more than two hundred rupees and his friend could have continued studying in school. Sivakumar pursued a Diploma in Optometry and he became an optometrist. He realized that uncorrected refractive error was the major cause of avoidable vision impairment and the second most common cause of blindness in India and the world generally. He started Alayem Eye Care, an optometric clinic where he identified and diagnosed refractive errors; prescribed and marketed spectacles at prices of one hundred fifty to three hundred rupees which were affordable to all sections of the society. He purchased a set of mobile eye testing equipment and started conducting eye camps for the weaker sections in Chennai city and its suburbs. He refers people with cataract problems to hospitals within Chennai where they would get free surgery. He figured that Optometrists, who were primary healthcare practitioners of the eye and vision system can successfully manage the leading cause of blindness and can also help alleviate the burden of other causes of blindness. There are only 1,200 Optometrists produced in India as against the national need for 11,000 of them. This prompted Sivakumar to launch the Sight Care Institute of Optometry to train Optometrists by enrolling in the accredited One Year and Two Year Certificate and Diploma Courses in Optometry. He envisions creating 200 Optometrists every year by his efforts. He has also created a social entrepreneurial venture model consisting of four persons with an investment of thirty thousand to provide eye care services for society with a sustainable model of co-creating value. This case study describes such creation that is likely to reach the bottom of the pyramid of society by creating a model that is anti thesis to the model espoused at fortune at the bottom of the pyramid and consider people as partners of progress. The model’s clinical authenticity is documented.

Keywords: Anti-thesis to fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, Eye care, Optometrists, social entrepreneurial venture, vision impairment

JEL Classification: I11, L80