The Big Presentation

Our final presentation conducted in a "workshop process" where we engaged the team in a few brainstorming sessions to get the team involved in the recommendation-building process. We provided our insights and recommendations and relied on the team to take the recommendations to a higher level and figure out feasibility (and timing) of implementation.

Below, the presentation can be viewed full screen by clicking on the corner arrow or downloaded using the menu button.

Putting It All Together

After several trips to rural areas to observe the 4-day camp process (village leader approval, marketing, screening and glasses sales, and follow-up sales), we sat down to crunch some numbers and put together our final presentation capturing our insights and recommendations.

VisionSpring Chairman Visits India

On the tail end of our trip, we got to spend a day with Jordan Kassalow, co-founder and current chairman of VisionSpring. We got to accompany him and the entire India team on a rural visit to watch a vision screening camp in action and record footage for a documentary. We were able to discuss ideas about the business and strategies to expand and refine the model as well as interview additional Vision Entrepreneurs (salepeople in the rural villages).

The camp where vision screening was conducted.

Kids in the village were excited to see us.

Jordan being filmed for the documentary.

Passersby gather around our co-worker Anitha as she films her segment of the documentary. She became an instant Bollywood star!

Group picture outside the town.

Celebrating Ganesha Next Door

While wondering around our neighborhood, we ran into a Ganesha festival going on down the street. With all of our traveling, we had not gotten to go to any of the festivals and this one was a pleasant surprise.


The Ganesha festival celebrates the birth of Lord Ganesha, the son of the Shiva and Parvati.

A Little Sightseeing Never Hurts

On our way back from Saripalli, we took a few quick excursions to see some of the religous sites.

We got stuck at a railway crossing waiting for the train that took for ever to come on our way back from Saripalli to Bhimivaram.

We next visited a Ksheera Ramam in Palakollu outside Bhimivaram. It is a 15th century temple built for the Hindu God Shiva. The first picture looks up at the temple and the second shows the temple complex from the top.

Our last stop before heading back to Hyderabad was at the Godavri River where it joins the Bay of Bengal. Hindus make pilgrimmages to this site to take a dip in the river. In respecting people's privacy we opted not to take a shot of anyone bathing/washing in the river.

Continued Observations in the Field

We traveled by overnight train to a 2nd village (Saripalli) where we made additional observations of the VisionSpring reading glass selling process and continued our interviews.











I purchased a pair of VisionSpring sunglasses.










The next day, we followed up with other potential customers (play video).

Selling Reading Glasses in the Village

Dave and I spent the day observing the camp process and interviewing customers and VEs.

















Setting up the vision screening process to verify acceptable far-sightedness before determining near vision glasses needs.

VisionSpring in Action in Ravinuthala Village

Getting to Ongole (the nearest city-town to Ravinuthala) from Chennai was a five hour train ride on the South Railway. The train came equipped with a "western" toilet which to my surprise was designed to flush directly to the train tracks!








On the first day in the field we witnessed the pre-camp marketing campaign (posters, flyer distribution, loudspeakers announcements) where we interviewed customers and the vision entreprenuers that would be selling the reading glasses the following day at the vision "camp".








Also, by luck, we got to celebrate a wedding reception with many of the villages and the lucky bride and groom. The food was VERY tasty and we were welcomed in to enjoy the celebration. This was the 16th day of the 21 day celebration - the day that the marriage was supposed to be consummated.

Weekend in Chennai

En route to our first rural village, Dave and I spent the weekend in Chennai. Right after getting in, we went to hangout and enjoy the Chennai nightlife with our GSB friends and the expats we met. We finished the night with a rooftop party with our friends.

The next day was spent shopping, hanging out at Marina beach where I struck up a conversation with some locals who also happened to be getting their MBAs, and riding the oh-so-scary "autos" or rickshaws throughout Chennai.

Learning to Make Biryani - Homecooking in India

When I arrived in Hyderabad, Dave and I took cooking 101 from our chef and learned the secrets to making Biryani Hyderabad style!

Dave Walks the Streets of Hyderabad

India One. India Two. India Three. On our visit to India in December we first learned about the three India's that exsit: a small, but well-off upper class, a growing middle class, and a huge group of urban and rural poor Indians. This picture captures a line of trucks carrying bricks for building sharing the road with a camel, tuk-tuk, and a pedestrian.

Dave traveled to Golkonda fort, one of the wonders of Hyderabad for some sightseeing. The fort ruins are over 800 years old and was built during the time of three different dynasties (the Kakatiyas, the Bahmanis and the Qutub Shahis) between the 12th and 16th centuries.

Pictures with locals:

Who Are We, What Are We Doing

Dave Rottblatt and I first came to India in December of 2007 with a group of Stanford Graduate School of Business MBAs to learn about the healthcare infrastructure in India and specifically how non-profit organizations were existing in the space to meet the healthcare needs of Indians. We decided to return to India and work on the ground with one of the organizations we visited back in December. This organization, VisionSpring (formerly Scojo) has created a micro-franchise entreprenuership network of vision screeners and eyeglass salespeople in rural villages in India. Visit http://www.visionspring.com/ to find out more about the organization. Our mission: to help VisionSpring think about how to continue to make their business model more robust and sustainable by addressing key business challenges. This blog will not go into the details of our work with Scojo/VisionSpring. Instead we will instead share our travel experiences on this trip.