At the recent 2024 ANDE Global Conference in Bangkok on 10 - 12 September, EYElliance’s Associate Director of Sustainable Finance, Tapfuma Musewe, delivered an inspiring SparkTalk on one of the largest global development issues we face today: uncorrected poor vision. A staggering 1 billion people around the world—like Aya, a young student in Côte d'Ivoire—suffer from poor vision simply because they lack access to affordable eyeglasses. This problem not only impacts quality of life but also costs the global economy an estimated ±$411 billion annually.
In his talk, Tapfuma illustrated how small and growing businesses (SGBs) in the retail optical industry are key to addressing this crisis. He shared success stories of inclusive optical companies like MozVisao and Lapaire, which are using digital solutions like enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to streamline operations, reduce costs, and scale effectively.
By digitizing core business processes, these companies have seen dramatic efficiency gains—reducing execution costs by 48% and order management times by 95%. Additionally, ERP systems offer visibility into critical impact metrics, such as the number of first-time glasses wearers and female customers, providing valuable insights to help attract investment to expand access to eyeglasses.
Tapfuma emphasized that with the right tools, we can empower optical SGBs to scale and make eyeglasses accessible to the 1 billion people who need them.
Watch the full talk on YouTube to learn more about how technology can help solve this massive global challenge and why this is a problem we can tackle today.
To get involved, get in touch with tapfuma@eyelliance.org today.
