VisionSpring’s Miriam Stone interviews Acumen Fellow John Tucker, stationed with VisionSpring in India since November ‘07.

MS: What was your background before coming to VisionSpring?

JT: Before becoming an Acumen Fellow I was doing consulting work for a technology services firm and then a design firm. I applied to the Acumen Fund program because I wanted to take a break from pure advising work to do something more entrepreneurial and with more of a social impact.

MS: What is your project with VisionSpring?

JT: Originally when I joined VisionSpring in November, Neil Blumenthal (VisionSpring’s Director) designed a project in which I would collect stories and develop sales/marketing techniques to help start up VisionSpring’s innovation program. But it’s ended up that I’ve gotten involved in everything: operations, marketing, and training.

MS: What is it like to start an innovation program for a Base-of-the-Pyramid sales and marketing organization?

JT: I think the principles of these programs are essentially the same, regardless of whether you’re selling luxury items in the US or affordable products at the Base of the Pyramid. You have to experiment, learn quickly, take iterative approaches, and make things replicable.

At VisionSpring, we’ve focused on determining when we’ve gathered enough information to proceed with launching a new product and when we have enough evidence to know that an innovation is going to be beneficial to the overall model.

MS: What are some of the things that make VisionSpring’s market unique?

JT: Cultural barriers certainly shape our sales and marketing strategies. For example, women Vision Entrepreneurs have more success selling to women because they are able to actually enter the homes of other women. But at the same time, they cannot travel freely because of strict family obligations and because of the large role that approval from fathers and husbands play in their professional decisions. Also, geographically, rural markets are by nature very spread out, so traveling times are high.

The result of these two factors is that we attract a lot of women Vision Entrepreneurs, but the duration of their time with us remains on average around 6 months. By understanding the roots of this pattern, we can take steps to work with the environment and be successful.

MS: Do you have any advice for someone coming in to do a project with an organization based in the developing world?

JT: You need to be a really good listener for the first few months, and recognize the deep experience of the people you’re working with. The learning curve at the beginning is incredibly high. Then, after some time, you get to better understand the market and the individuals you are working with and can actually begin to add value.

View John Tucker’s short film on Rama Devi, one of VisionSpring India’s most successful entreprenuers, on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkKoXJTC5I4

Read more from John Tucker at the Acumen Fund http://www.acumenfund.org/investment-story/walkabout.html website

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