VisionSpring

VisionSpring Award-winning social enterprise providing affordable, durable, attractive eyeglasses for earners & learners everywhere.

🥳 Meet our new Chief Impact Officer, Anne Coolen. Anne will lead our team in bridging strategy, delivery, and learning, ...
05/14/2026

🥳 Meet our new Chief Impact Officer, Anne Coolen.

Anne will lead our team in bridging strategy, delivery, and learning, while centering our mission on the people we serve and shaping the ecosystems around them.

📈 Over her 4 years at VisionSpring as Global VP of Programs, she has sharpened how we design and deliver quality programs, made us more data-driven, and equipped community leaders to bring eyeglasses to their communities through CatalEYES. Now, as Chief Impact Officer, she'll drive our strategic direction and operational excellence across all regions.

Before joining us, Anne led large teams through some of the world's hardest environments: West Africa, Central Africa, and South Asia. At MSI Reproductive Choices, she doubled program reach in Mali and built revenue-blended sustainability strategies in Ghana. She has also delivered humanitarian health programs with Médecins du Monde, humedica e.V., and Merlin, and led the research, management, and implementation of assessments, as well as program development for the KIT Royal Tropical Institute.

We're entering our most ambitious phase of growth — correcting the vision of 20 million people in the next 5 years — and we couldn't be in better hands.

Join us in congratulating Anne. 👏

💜 See well. Do well.

The garment industry is under pressure from every direction: tariffs, rising shipping costs, diminishing margins. 👓 One...
05/12/2026

The garment industry is under pressure from every direction: tariffs, rising shipping costs, diminishing margins.

👓 One of the highest-return investments many are not making? Eyeglasses.

PROSPER II, our latest randomised controlled trial, tested the impact of vision correction in a real factory setting.

At under 💲10 per worker, the numbers point to a remarkably affordable intervention. For each 💲1 invested, factories saw a 💲3.37 return in just 12 weeks.

The study was implemented in the field by VisionSpring and Good Business Lab, with academic leadership from Queen's University Belfast, University of Michigan, and University of California San Diego. It was funded by USAID, the Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation, and the Livelihood Impact Fund.

💜 Scroll through the infographic to read more about PROSPER II's key findings.

05/07/2026

You know and we know — and we think everybody else should know — how crucial eyeglasses are for productivity.

PROSPER II, the first randomised controlled trial to study the impact of near vision correction in a factory setting, found that glasses boosted productivity by 6%.

🤯 🪡 That's $27 billion in potential global impact if every textile and garment worker had the glasses they needed — fewer errors and less waste!

And behind these numbers are women on the factory floor, threading needles, checking quality, and working with speed and precision. For them, clear vision guarantees not only their livelihoods but also confidence and dignity, both at work and at home.

🎥 Watch the video to find out more about PROSPER II and see their bright smiles for yourself.

👏🏾 The study was conducted by VisionSpring and Good Business Lab, with academic leadership from Queen's University Belfast, University of Michigan, and University of California San Diego. It was funded by USAID, The Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation, and the Livelihood Impact Fund.

💜 See well. Do well.

Eyeglasses boost factory worker productivity by 6%. VisionSpring is proud to share new research published today in the B...
04/28/2026

Eyeglasses boost factory worker productivity by 6%.

VisionSpring is proud to share new research published today in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. The first randomised controlled trial to test the impact of vision correction in a real factory setting, it found that correcting the near vision of garment factory workers with glasses boosted their productivity by 6 percent.

The PROSPER II trial was conducted across three factories in Karnataka, India. It found that 1 in 4 sewing machine operators had uncorrected age-related blurry vision.

A simple pair of glasses changed that, delivering:

👓 6% gain in productivity
💰 $3.37 return for every $1 spent in just 12 weeks
🔁 16x projected annual return on investment

The full intervention, covering vision screening, glasses dispensing, and compliance support, cost less than $10 per worker.

Scaling vision correction across the global textile and garment workforce could add the equivalent of $27 billion in annual output to the industry, while reducing errors and material waste.

This study was implemented by VisionSpring and Good Business Lab, with academic leadership from Queen's University Belfast, University of Michigan, and the University of California, San Diego, and funding from USAID, The Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation, and the Livelihood Impact Fund.

Read the full press release via the comments.

☕🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 We're heading to Oxford for Skoll World Forum next week!If you'll be there, we'd love to connect. Reach out to...
04/16/2026

☕🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 We're heading to Oxford for Skoll World Forum next week!

If you'll be there, we'd love to connect. Reach out to set up a coffee with our team. Our CEO Ella Gudwin will be speaking at two sessions:

📅 April 21 — Funding the Path to Scale and Impact, alongside Management Systems International, BRAC, and the British Asian Trust — this session brings together organizations rethinking their business models, sharing what works, what doesn't, and how funding strategy can drive scale and impact.

📅 April 23 — The DIV Fund: Evidence-Driven Innovation from Pilot to Scale, with DIV Fund, Semilla Nueva, and Educational Initiatives — this is the fund's first call for proposals, and the session will offer an opportunity to engage directly with their team.

Also at from our senior leadership: Anshu Taneja, Nafis Islam, Michael Cooke, and our founder, Dr. Jordan Kassalow.

👋🏼 Come say hello!

👏🏾 We’re celebrating our wonderful team in Nigeria, who are driving our work as one of the key partners in the Bloomberg...
04/02/2026

👏🏾 We’re celebrating our wonderful team in Nigeria, who are driving our work as one of the key partners in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Vision Initiative — one of the most ambitious investments in eye health ever.

Our team collaborates with government and implementation partners to drive programs like forward. They train community agents through our network of primary healthcare centres and pharmacies, and support our partners with demand generation strategies that help more customers get the sight tests and eyeglasses they need. Their efforts have also secured formal support from both federal and state health departments to ensure program sustainability.

24 million Nigerians need vision correction to see well and do well. Here’s to our team, whose dedication to their work translates into real change.

🔗 Learn more about our mission at www.visionspring.org

“I once screened a young student who struggled in class. Her diagnosis was myopia. Eyeglasses improved her academic perf...
03/28/2026

“I once screened a young student who struggled in class. Her diagnosis was myopia. Eyeglasses improved her academic performance. This experience changed how I view vision care—it's not just about eyesight; it's education, employment, confidence, and opportunity.”

✨ This week, we’re celebrating the optometrists around the world who power VisionSpring’s mission.

Our vision care team — including optometrists like Kolawole Kehinde in —screened the vision of over ‼️4 million‼️ customers in 2025 alone.

💜 Their technical expertise, community knowledge, and dedication makes clear vision a possibility for all.

📫 We’re excited to share the new presbyopia-focused issue of Community Eye Health Journal.Presbyopia affects ‼️1.8 billi...
03/27/2026

📫 We’re excited to share the new presbyopia-focused issue of Community Eye Health Journal.

Presbyopia affects ‼️1.8 billion people‼️ worldwide. It is easily corrected, yet nearly half of those affected do not have access to the near-vision eyeglasses they need.

But improving access to near-vision correction will take more than a single solution because there's no one-size-fits-all approach.

📖 VisionSpring is proud to be featured in the article, “Innovative Screening and Distribution Strategies for Presbyopia,” which highlights our work bringing near vision screenings to people where they live and work.

The article reflects a core belief VisionSpring has championed from Day 1: presbyopia screening does not have to happen only in traditional clinical settings. With the right training, community agents such as pharmacists, nurses, and community health workers can all play a role in delivering near-vision correction.

Programs like Reading Glasses for Improved Livelihoods (RGIL) laid the foundation for this work. Today, we continue to expand access through our Pharmacy program, community agent training, and workplace distribution models. From pharmacies and faith-based health systems to postal networks to outreach camps, and other community-based models, the article explores how near-vision eyeglasses can reach people where they already live and work.

💻 Join the journal next week for its webinar, "Up Close and Visible: Correcting Global Presbyopia." In collaboration with , the International Center for Eye Health, and Livelihood Impact Fund, the panel will feature select authors from the issue, who will share perspectives on expanding access to near-vision correction and dig deeper into traditional and novel distribution models.

🗓️ Date: Monday, March 30

🕘 Time: 9:00 AM EDT / 2:00 PM BST / 4:00 PM East Africa Time

“I once screened an elderly man who hadn’t read in years. When he put on his new glasses, he immediately picked up a new...
03/27/2026

“I once screened an elderly man who hadn’t read in years. When he put on his new glasses, he immediately picked up a newspaper with tears in his eyes.

I’ll never forget when he said, ‘I feel like I’ve gotten my world back.’”

✨ This week, we’re celebrating the optometrists around the world who power VisionSpring’s mission.

Our vision care team — like Harsh*tha in — unlocking ‼️$583 million‼️in earning potential in 2025.

💜 Their technical expertise, community knowledge, and dedication makes clear vision a possibility for all.

“A woman in her mid-forties embraced me after a screening and whispered, ‘Was this all I needed?’ She had gone to religi...
03/26/2026

“A woman in her mid-forties embraced me after a screening and whispered, ‘Was this all I needed?’ She had gone to religious leaders and turned to prayer for a solution.

Her story left a lasting impression on me. She was amazed that a simple pair of glasses could do such wonders.”

✨ This week, we’re celebrating the optometrists around the world who power VisionSpring’s mission.

Our incredible optometrists — like our Senior Global Optometrist Charles Koduah in — screened the vision of ‼️4 million‼️ customers last year. And for many, it turned out that a pair of eyeglasses IS all they needed.

💜 Their technical expertise, community knowledge, and dedication makes clear vision a possibility for all.

🎉🥳 What a moment for our team! Congratulations to the 2026 Young Systems Leader Award Winners — and a special shoutout t...
03/25/2026

🎉🥳 What a moment for our team!

Congratulations to the 2026 Young Systems Leader Award Winners — and a special shoutout to VisionSpring’s Adebowale Adekunle (aka Triple-A), whom IAPB recognized as one of eight young leaders driving transformative change in eye health.

🌍 The IAPB's Young Systems Leader Awards spotlight emerging leaders who are tackling avoidable sight loss with bold ideas and systems thinking — and we’re excited to see Adebowale and the other winners bring those ideas to in Nairobi this June.

As VisionSpring’s Global Data and Reporting Lead, Alfred brings innovation and commitment to his work of building stronger systems that expand access to eye care. We’re proud to see him celebrated on the global stage.

💫 Congratulations, Triple-A!

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