Clearly
Global Campaign for Vision Correction Founder - James Chen Country of Origin - Hong Kong Countries of Operation - Global Sector of Activity - Vision |
"It's not what the vision is, it's what the vision does." Peter Senge
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Executive summary
James Chen, Founder
This case study focuses on how James Chen, an activist investor and philanthropist, applied an entrepreneurial mindset to vision impairment issue. In addition, this research focuses on how he developed and deployed strategic approaches to create a sustainable business model that can identify and solve this problem locally and be replicated globally. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) encapsulate 17 global issues such as poverty, hunger, and childhood mortality. In 2019, over 2.6 billion people were deemed to have poor vision and half of the cases are easily treatable. Irrespective of numbers, uncorrected poor vision is not part of the SDGs. Additionally, vision impairment disability does not have the level of global awareness that is required to eradicate this public health issue.
Poor vision is the largest unaddressed disability in the world today, but for decades it has been at best forgotten and at worst ignored. Governments, the United Nations, the World Health Organization – none have done enough to acknowledge this problem and act on it (Chen, 2017). James Chen set out to prove that the solution to vision correction is readily available, accessible and increasingly affordable.
Chen selected Rwanda to run a pilot program. For the pilot to work successfully there had to be political and economic stability, successful cooperation with the government and access to local resources. Additionally, to reach those suffering with vision impairment, an efficient domestic infrastructure was needed to be in place. Rwanda welcomed this intervention and from a pilot it became a country wide program called Vision for a Nation.
The Cultural, Administrative, Geographic and Economic (CAGE) framework was used to assess if Rwanda satisfies these conditions and to evaluate the suitability of a specific country or region to operate a business.
In 2016, Chen launched a global campaign Clearly to further enhance the visibility of impaired vision. Clearly was an advocacy initiative to bring heightened awareness and impact being policy change.
Most high net worth donors engage in providing passive charitable donations or patronage. For activist philanthropists such as Chen, they start with a passion and a hypothesis to improve their communities or even the world. These individuals apply their business skills and acumen to social returns.
True philanthropy requires a disruptive mindset, innovative thinking, a philosophy driven by entrepreneurial insights and creative opportunities.
A disruptive and innovative philanthropists have a willingness to deploy risk capital with an appetite to endure not only financial loss but potential reputational damage. As this case illustrates: James Chen’s work and vision align with this model of philanthropy.
Poor vision is the largest unaddressed disability in the world today, but for decades it has been at best forgotten and at worst ignored. Governments, the United Nations, the World Health Organization – none have done enough to acknowledge this problem and act on it (Chen, 2017). James Chen set out to prove that the solution to vision correction is readily available, accessible and increasingly affordable.
Chen selected Rwanda to run a pilot program. For the pilot to work successfully there had to be political and economic stability, successful cooperation with the government and access to local resources. Additionally, to reach those suffering with vision impairment, an efficient domestic infrastructure was needed to be in place. Rwanda welcomed this intervention and from a pilot it became a country wide program called Vision for a Nation.
The Cultural, Administrative, Geographic and Economic (CAGE) framework was used to assess if Rwanda satisfies these conditions and to evaluate the suitability of a specific country or region to operate a business.
In 2016, Chen launched a global campaign Clearly to further enhance the visibility of impaired vision. Clearly was an advocacy initiative to bring heightened awareness and impact being policy change.
Most high net worth donors engage in providing passive charitable donations or patronage. For activist philanthropists such as Chen, they start with a passion and a hypothesis to improve their communities or even the world. These individuals apply their business skills and acumen to social returns.
True philanthropy requires a disruptive mindset, innovative thinking, a philosophy driven by entrepreneurial insights and creative opportunities.
A disruptive and innovative philanthropists have a willingness to deploy risk capital with an appetite to endure not only financial loss but potential reputational damage. As this case illustrates: James Chen’s work and vision align with this model of philanthropy.