
Eye Mitra, is one of Essilor’s flagship inclusive business programs created to increase awareness and access to vision care for underserved populations as well as improve local livelihoods. It addresses three key issues: providing vision correction, developing skills and creating jobs.
The lack of primary eye care services in rural India means hundreds of millions of people suffer the social and economic consequences of poor vision. Our idea was to empower people with knowledge, skills and a little bit of financial support to address the need for vision care in their own communities in a sustainable way.

People in India suffer from uncorrected poor vision
is wasted in lost productivity
Qualified optometrist for every 25,000 people
of 18-25 year olds are UNEMPLOYED

Eye Mitra (meaning friend of the eyes in Sanskrit), launched in 2013, trains young under-employed men and women in rural and semi-urban areas to become primary vision care providers. The program trains them to carry out basic vision tests and supports them to set up their own business to sell prescription glasses and sunglasses in their community. Participants follow a certified vocational training in refraction and visual health over twelve months as well as learning the commercial skills to run a successful small vision care business. Essilor provides ongoing entrepreneurship, logistics and marketing support to help Eye Mitras to grow their business, employ additional staff and run outreach screening events to expand vision care to outlying rural areas.
Today Eye Mitra is the world’s largest rural optical network. Active in 14 Indian states, these ‘start-ups’ have provided millions of people with their first pair of eyeglasses. It`s also helping to address a small part of India’s urban migration problem by giving young people the skills and qualifications to earn a livelihood locally, as well as empowering women to contribute socially and economically to their communities.

An independent study by Dalberg Global Development Advisors reviewed the work of 400 Eye Mitras serving 70,000 glasses wearers in Uttar Pradesh. It showed a total quantifiable impact of US$4.4 million a year – including increased earnings for Eye Mitra, increased income through improved productivity of wearers as well as revenues for rural suppliers and other local small businesses. The study concluded that if the Eye Mitra initiative was scaled up to all districts in India, it would represent a global potential impact of US$487 million a year.
The study also highlighted some of the important individual benefits of eyeglasses: wearers saved on average 1.5 hours a day on daily tasks such as farming or domestic work, and experienced increased independence in movement and travel. On a local level, the Eye Mitra program has contributed to increased income, respect, community cohesion and empowerment. Its impacts can be linked to UN sustainable goals such as no poverty, good health and well-being, quality education, decent work and economic growth, reduced inequalities and sustainable communities.
The success of Eye Mitra in India has led to new partnerships that are adapting this model to other markets. The Australian Government selected Essilor to be part of its Business Partnership Platform – an aid investment program to generate social and commercial returns in developing countries. Through launching an Eye Mitra program in Bangladesh, we will help young people to set up village-based businesses to detect vision problems and dispense affordable eyeglasses. We are working with local partners including the non-profit organization Grameen Kalyan which will support the creation of 400 Eye Mitra vision care shops and, where necessary, provide microloans to Eye Mitras as they build their micro-entreprises.
Since 2013, Essilor has been exploring different inclusive business models to solve the issue of access to vision care by creating the infrastructure to serve ‘base of the pyramid’ consumers.
