What is Microfranchising and how is it different from Microfinance?
A microfranchise is a small business toolkit that allows an entrepreneur with little-to-no previous experience to launch a profitable business. Unlike microcredit, which creates access to capital, VisionSpring loans entrepreneurs a "Business in a Bag" microfranchise. The Business in a Bag contains all the products and materials needed for marketing and selling eyeglasses, as well as tracking customer information, managing inventory, and running a small business. Vision Entrepreneurs repay VisionSpring for the cost of glasses once they have been sold.* Vision Entrepreneurs training in sales, marketing and business skills, as well as continual support from local staff.
What is a Franchise Partner?
To reach the hundreds of millions in need of eyeglasses worldwide, VisionSpring licenses its Business in a Bag model to Franchise Partner organizations with deep local roots, established networks, solid reputations, and strong infrastructures to reach the rural poor. VisionSpring forges partnerships with a wide variety of organizations, from microfinance institutions with large networks of borrowers to multinational corporations working in some of the poorest regions of the world, to local NGOs providing vital health and economic services in communities.
Franchise Partners allow VisionSpring to reach people in need of eyeglasses in the world's poorest, hardest-to-reach communities. In return, Franchise Partners receive a product with social and economic benefit to their constituents, an additional revenue stream for entrepreneurs and the organization itself, the transfer of VisionSpring's extensive knowledge, skills, and experience in Base-of-the-Pyramid sales and marketing.
To learn more, please
click here.
Is VisionSpring currently seeking Franchise partners?
VisionSpring is always interested in creating new partnerships with a diverse array of organizations in the developing world. To learn more about the process of becoming a Franchise Partner, and to apply please
click here.
Why do you focus on eyeglasses?
After the age of 40, many people begin to lose the ability to focus up close and find that they need glasses for the first time. Ask anyone in the United States who wears "reading" glasses, and she would say that without her glasses, she simply can't function — she can't read the newspaper or a menu in a restaurant. He can't type on his Blackberry or dial a cell phone. Many people keep 20 pairs around the house — by the phone, at the office, in each purse Ñ so they will never be left without sight.
But outside the US and Europe, access to this crucial tool for daily living is not a reality. Without glasses, weavers cannot set their looms, farmers cannot sort seeds before planting, artisans cannot see enough detail to create intricate designs. A drop in productivity and income among middle-aged workers, many of whom support both children and elderly parents, can push already-vulnerable families over the edge. Without clear vision, millions of the world's poorest people lose income or drop out of the labor force altogether, forcing their families and communities deeper into poverty. A simple pair of ready-made eyeglasses, long available in every drugstore in the United States, can restore their vision, productivity, and dignity.
What is Presbyopia?
Presbyopia (prez-bee-OH-pee-uh) is the blurring of near vision that occurs in most people around the age of 35 or 40. A natural process of aging, like gray hair or wrinkles, presbyopia causes the lens of the eye to lose flexibility and makes focusing up-close difficult.
Where does VisionSpring manufacture its reading glasses?
VisionSpring produces its branded, high-quality glasses in China. Leveraging China's robust manufacturing infrastructure that arose to serve the needs of large, multi-national companies, VisionSpring is able to produce high-quality, stylish glasses at a price affordable to our rural customers in the developing world. The low cost of manufacturing also enables our entrepreneurs to earn an income from the sale of glasses and allows VisionSpring to run a fully cost-recovered supply chain. VisionSpring staff regularly visits China to monitor production and working conditions.
How can I donate to VisionSpring?
VisionSpring accepts donations online, which we invite you to do
by clicking here.
Alternately, please direct mail donations to:
Miriam Stone
Director of Business Development
VisionSpring
12 Desbrosses Street
New York, NY 10013
VisionSpring is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization recognized under section 501(C)3 and contributions are tax-deductible in the United States.
