Social entreprenuers are extremely inspiring as they make the world a better place. Jordan Kassalow is no different. He is a former optometrist and the founder of VisionSpring, a company that brings high-quality, low-cost vision care to neglected communities across the developing world. The inspiring article can be found here.

Mr. Kassalow came up with the idea when he gave a nearly blind boy with glasses that brought the boy his first vision of the world. After that enriching experience, Mr. Kassalow began to do extensive research and take trips to Latin America to get a gist of the environment. He concluded in order for him to do well, he “needed three things – a good idea, people, and money.” He discovered  “2,000 people with serious vision difficulties every week, of whom 70 per cent needed glasses only and the remainder required medicine or surgery.”

Today, VisionSpring has sold 1,000,000 eyeglasses and has a $216 million social impact to date.

I believe VisionSpring is a great idea. Typically in developing countries, the main concern is to satisfy basic needs such as shelter, food and clean water. Vision is usually overlooked. However, the ability to see is also quite important. Now that more organizations are helping with the basic needs in developing countries, other companies should work to provide more secondary needs.

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