Lapaire recounts five years of its existence in Africa
Lapaire, a pan-African eyecare organization has celebrated five years of its existence in Africa at a dinner held in Kampala.
At least 2.2 billion persons being visually impaired or blind worldwide, of which at least one billion have a preventable or treatable impairment.
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The 2020 World Health Organisation report indicates that many visual impairments may be prevented if there was greater awareness, prevention, and availability of vision health care.
On the other side, it is said that 50% of the world's population will be myopic by 2050 and therefore, there is an urgent need to make information, services, and eyeglasses products more accessible and more affordable.
According to the organization, these striking findings motivated the development of Lapaire in Africa by Jerome Lapaire, a Swiss entrepreneur in 2018 in Kenya.
“The young company began by testing the eyesight of Kenyans free of charge and providing them with low-cost eyeglasses (starting at $30) with flexible payment terms adapted to everyone's budget. Subsequently adopting a pan-African expansion strategy to allow everyone to benefit from its offers, Lapaire has positioned itself in the eyewear market as one of the most dynamic players in the field of vision care,” the company said.
Lapaire says in five years it has tested the eyesight of more than 200,000 people, 70% of whom were not wearing glasses when they went for an eye test and of these, more than 100,000 people have already purchased their glasses with Lapaire.
“This shows that there is a real need to make these services more accessible and affordable to the population for their health and well-being. It is crucial to note that this expansion plan contributes significantly to local economic development since Lapaire provides many positions for managers, opticians, and sales representatives, among others, as a result of these numerous branch openings. In addition, Lapaire significantly improves the everyday life, health and well-being of its consumers by ensuring greater visual health.”
The company says it wants to allow everyone to have their eyesight tested and buy their glasses within 30 minutes of reach and plans to open more than 80 branches in Africa over the next 12 months so that going to the optician becomes as easy as going to a pharmacy.
“For Lapaire, allowing this accessibility means improving lives. The game-changer optician who has revolutionized eyewear, is taking great strides in realizing his ambition to become the go-to eyewear brand in Africa.”
