Jérôme Lapaire, CEO of Lapaire Glasses
Interview with Jérôme Lapaire
FOUNDER AND CEO, LAPAIRE GLASSES
Lives in: Nairobi/ Abidjan
Swiss-born entrepreneur Jérôme Lapaire recognized a chance to promote eyeglasses to price-sensitive prospects in Africa. He shared the story of his entrepreneurial journey with Jack Thompson.
On this article, we take a better have a look at:
- How Lapaire recognized two main explanation why many individuals in Africa don’t put on glasses: consciousness and affordability;
- His preliminary B2B strategy of reaching potential prospects by means of their workplaces, as an alternative of direct gross sales;
- The technique of Lapaire Glasses to problem the standard eyewear sector’s high-margin, low-volume mannequin, just like what IKEA has executed within the furnishings business;
- The distinctive market potential in French-speaking Africa as a result of cultural notion of eyewear; and
- The significance of being keen to shut down a enterprise unit that isn’t working.
When Jérôme Lapaire first pitched his inexpensive eyeglasses to the workers of Kenyan corporations, he had no connections in glasses manufacturing nor a longtime provide chain. As a substitute, he ordered a number of dozen glasses from an abroad web site utilizing his bank card and offered them as Lapaire Glasses’ preliminary vary.
“I did it completely freestyle,” admits the 35-year-old Swiss-born entrepreneur. “I mentioned, okay, the place can I get eyeglasses? I do know no provider regionally. I do know nobody within the business. What can I do? And I went on a web-based web site – you recognize, within the States, in Europe, you should buy eyeglasses on-line – and I used to be okay, I’ll simply organize them on-line. I ordered thirty pairs of eyeglasses. They have been shipped to me in Kenya, and I confirmed them because the Lapaire first fashions. Easy!”
“The setup prices have been very restricted. I did every part from my condominium on the very starting,” he provides.
Since this modest begin 5 and half years in the past, Lapaire Glasses now has 56 branches throughout seven African nations with 350 staff. It has secured multi-million-dollar investments and is contributing to creating eyewear extra accessible for hundreds of thousands.
Figuring out a enterprise alternative in Africa
Though he studied regulation, Lapaire acknowledges his inherent “entrepreneurial mindset” that led him to determine a shirt tailoring enterprise throughout his regulation college years and a journey app shortly thereafter.
“It completely failed. I burnt all my financial savings,” he says, referring to the tech enterprise.
Fed up with Europe, Lapaire determined to maneuver to a extra dynamic surroundings. He narrowed it down to 3 locations in Africa: “Individuals advised me Cape City is totally lovely … but it surely’s not the place you’ll have the true grasp [of] the African continent. Lagos is the hardest. And Nairobi is an efficient center floor,” says Lapaire on why he selected the Kenyan capital.
After arriving in Nairobi in 2015, he obtained a job with the affect funding agency, AlphaMundi earlier than becoming a member of market analysis firm, Sagaci Analysis. It was right here the place he obtained a broader publicity to Africa, engaged on tasks in nations akin to Nigeria, Senegal and Madagascar.
However he at all times knew that he needed to run his personal enterprise.
In search of a enterprise concept, he requested himself: “What are the large issues that I have to sort out?”
Having lived in Kenya for 3 years, he recognized three points. He noticed the inefficiency in inter-city transport and noticed potential to digitise it. His second statement was the low insurance coverage protection, and he believed there was a chance to make insurance coverage extra accessible and clear.
The ultimate concept got here to him when he stumbled upon a research in the marketplace measurement of eyeglasses in Africa. “I realised, wow, okay, there are half a billion those that want eyeglasses in Africa and only some million that really have them,” says the entrepreneur, ceaselessly citing the phrase “no brainer” when speaking concerning the potential of his enterprise.
Regardless of his restricted understanding of the eyewear business, together with the manufacturing processes, and never being a glasses wearer himself, Lapaire was decided to understand the core points. In truth, he’s adamant that it was this lack of expertise and information that made him capable of disrupt this established business.
“I used to be able to strive something,” he says.
Lapaire pinpointed two main explanation why many individuals in Africa didn’t put on glasses: consciousness and affordability. He found that many individuals have been both utterly unaware, or solely vaguely conscious, that their imaginative and prescient was subpar in comparison with the typical individual. Furthermore, even when people recognised the necessity for glasses, the price was prohibitive for many Kenyans with out medical insurance. In Africa, the speed of insurance coverage protection is among the many lowest globally, primarily as a result of value and availability of insurance policies.
Concentrating on company Kenya
Lapaire initially adopted a technique of reaching potential prospects by means of their workplaces, relatively than direct gross sales. He despatched chilly emails to Kenyan corporations, providing their staff free eye assessments and the choice to then buy his firm’s inexpensive eyewear.
“Most CEOs, most HR folks truly answered,” recollects Lapaire. “I used to be going round: ‘That is insane, I’m sending a chilly electronic mail and persons are truly answering.’”
Working from Lapaire’s condominium, he and his small staff – comprising two staff – travelled to corporations by bike with cell testing kits and the frames purchased off the web.
Providing free eye assessments was an important a part of overcoming the notice a part of the puzzle, says Lapaire: “Lots of people had by no means executed an eye fixed check.”
He highlights the profound affect of offering glasses to folks for the primary time, recalling his experiences of personally finishing up eye assessments within the firm’s early days. “When you’ve got a 30 or 40-year-old person who … tries [on glasses] and has a smile and appears round and rediscovers the world, I used to be shaking,” recounts Lapaire. “It’s fairly highly effective.”
He additionally displays on a childhood incident that demonstrates how entry to eyewear can improve instructional and productiveness outcomes in Africa. When his youthful brother transitioned from major to secondary college and altered his seating within the classroom, his tutorial efficiency declined. Upon inquiry by their dad and mom, his brother revealed that he was struggling to see the blackboard, resulting in a lack of focus and engagement in school.
“He obtained a pair of eyeglasses after which his grades went again up,” says Lapaire. “So, when you have this downside in Switzerland, think about the potential in Africa.”
This clear affect meant the pitch to corporations was not a tough promote: “I might chilly name CEOs and HR administrators in Nairobi and inform them, ‘Guys I wish to give you one thing that may enhance the revenues of your organization … You should have extra performing staff, much less accidents if you’re manufacturing, and happier staff. And also you don’t need to pay something, staff pays for their very own glasses.’”
For these causes, a number of outstanding corporations in Kenya signed up, together with Uber, Bidco and Broadway Bakery.
Low margin, excessive quantity enterprise mannequin
The corporate’s typical goal buyer earns between $200 to $800 a month and doesn’t have insurance coverage. Some 65% of them have by no means owned a pair of glasses earlier than.
“Our prospects … have a bit of little bit of disposable earnings on the finish of the month, and they should determine what they wish to do with it. Do they make investments it in a pair of sneakers? Do they make investments it in a smartphone? Or do they put money into a pair of eyeglasses?” Lapaire explains. “The concept was to be priced less expensive than the entry stage smartphone as a result of we at all times knew we have been going to struggle for disposable earnings.”
Lapaire Glasses was priced 80% cheaper than conventional opticians at its launch in 2018, based on the founder. At present the corporate’s glasses value round $25 for the body and lenses.
Lapaire asserts that within the case of $500 designer glasses, merely $10 goes in the direction of manufacturing prices, whereas a lot of the remainder is advertising and marketing bills. “What’s costly is asking Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to be on a large billboard in Instances Sq..”
The corporate sought to disrupt the standard high-margin, low-volume enterprise mannequin in eyewear. Just like IKEA’s inexpensive furnishings technique, it adopted an strategy of decrease margins however increased quantity. Key to this mannequin is direct engagement with producers, bypassing middlemen and promoting solely the corporate’s personal model.
To extend gross sales, the corporate launched a payment-over-time choice to assist prospects unable to pay the total value upfront save for his or her glasses. For this, Lapaire drew inspiration from M-Kopa in Kenya, an organization identified for its versatile financing of house photo voltaic programs, smartphones and different shopper objects.
“I used to be simply taking concepts from in all places,” says the entrepreneur. “What we realised is that really some prospects actually needed eyeglasses. They won’t have the $25 proper of their pockets however they have been keen to place [down] possibly 5, ten, or 15 {dollars} … they usually knew that they’d get the extra 10 … after they would get their wage.”
The corporate experimented with its deposit requirement, initially setting it at 50%. They discovered {that a} 5% deposit was too low, because it didn’t sufficiently commit prospects and left a considerable remaining steadiness. Finally, a 30% preliminary cost emerged because the candy spot. “We’ve got a particularly low default fee,” Lapaire notes.
Branching out
Initially, the corporate centered on promoting glasses to firm staff. However as these prospects began asking for eye assessments for his or her household and pals, Lapaire realised it was time to open a retailer. The primary department was arrange in Westlands, Nairobi, though he selected to not observe the business pattern of choosing prime retail places.
“Department is an enormous phrase – it was a small again workplace,” laughs Lapaire. “[Customers] would wrestle a lot to seek out it they’d name us thrice.”
Inside a Lapaire Glasses outlet.
After six months of beginning the enterprise, Lapaire had a thriving business-to-business (B2B) operation and an outlet in Nairobi – however he had greater ambitions.
“We had two selections,” recollects the entrepreneur. It was both to give attention to increasing all through Kenya, given its huge market, or purpose for a pan-African presence thereby proving that the corporate has a scalable and replicable mannequin.
The choice was to tackle the remainder of Africa as a result of Lapaire needed to point out buyers “that the market is definitely 500 million folks and never simply Kenya with 50 million folks”.
The corporate raised $500,000 from pals, household, and the enterprise capital agency Saviu Ventures. Lapaire didn’t see this as playing with others’ cash. “I used to be very assured,” he says. “The B2B uptake was so optimistic that I felt … we discovered a goldmine.”
The founder relocated to Côte d’Ivoire to determine the enterprise within the bustling metropolis of Abidjan. He was desperate to enterprise into Francophone Africa as a result of the optical business works solely in another way than in lots of English-speaking nations.
Lapaire describes the standard strategy of buying glasses in French-speaking Africa as a “nightmare”. In these nations, people sometimes first go to an ophthalmologist, typically situated in public hospitals, for an eye fixed check. That is adopted by a separate journey to an optician to have the glasses fitted. This differs from English-speaking African nations, the place a single optician go to sometimes suffices for each companies.
“You must go to this public hospital that you simply queue for hours. There’s no reserving … You get a paper … You have to go search for opticians … You by no means know the value that you simply’re going to finish up paying,” he explains.
In these nations, Lapaire Glasses’ inexpensive and streamlined mannequin was much more engaging. Moreover, the cultural notion of eyewear in French-speaking Africa cemented Lapaire’s determination. “Sporting eyeglasses is a proof of success,” he explains. “If you happen to take an image from the Ivory Coast authorities and an image of the Kenyan authorities – 90% of the folks within the Ivory Coast authorities have eyeglasses, and Kenya solely 10%.”
After beginning in Abidjan, Lapaire was keen to check his mannequin past extra developed economies like Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya. He was curious if it will achieve nations with decrease GDP per capita. So once more, he packed his baggage and opened branches in Uganda and Burkina Faso. When these places carried out higher than anticipated, he went on to open up in Mali, Togo, and Benin.
Eyeing profitability
In 2021, funding corporations Saviu, EQ2 Ventures, and Sayani collectively backed the corporate with an extra $1.5 million. Then, in November 2023, Investisseurs et Partenaires, AAIC, Past Capital and FINCA contributed one other multi-million-dollar funding, aiming to increase the enterprise to 500 branches over the following 5 years.
Lapaire attributes the buyers’ curiosity to the corporate’s “very wholesome” unit economics. Working with low capital expenditure, its branches are cost-effective to determine and sometimes staffed by simply two to 4 folks.
Though the corporate does have an internet site, over 95% of gross sales happen in branches. The enterprise continues to supply free eye assessments, producing income solely from eyewear gross sales.
Whereas at the moment not worthwhile, Lapaire explains that the corporate has at all times been managed to be near profitability. The biggest bills are worker salaries. From time to time, the corporate has employed senior workers sooner than is likely to be excellent from a revenue and loss perspective. Nevertheless, following every vital rent, the purpose is to extend income inside a number of months to offset the price of the brand new wage.
With the mandatory senior workers already in place for increasing to 150 branches and tripling income, Lapaire anticipates the enterprise turning worthwhile by early 2024.
Market consolidation
After Lapaire Glasses quickly expanded into seven nations, its buyers cautioned, ‘You’re too unfold out; it’s essential to refocus.’ Lapaire additionally acknowledges the time, vitality, and sources concerned in studying the nuances of every nation. Consequently, the corporate paused its geographical growth to consolidate its operations within the nations it already operated. In Abidjan, for instance, it now has over a dozen places.
Lapaire Glasses has 56 branches throughout seven African nations.
“We’re opening between 80 and 100 new shops subsequent 12 months (2024) in our present markets. We actually wish to develop into the primary participant in our present markets, after which in all probability by the tip of subsequent 12 months, we will likely be slowly serious about a brand new nation,” Lapaire says, including that the corporate would possible have a look at greater nations akin to Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which have populations of about 63 million and 100 million respectively.
“We are going to in all probability take an enormous market as an alternative of taking these small markets like Benin [and] Togo – they’re nice, there’s demand … but it surely’s simply loads of admin and tax and regulation smart for an funding that’s going to be restricted. Sometimes in Benin and Togo we gained’t have the ability to function greater than 40 branches … but when we’re speaking greater nations we may function far more,” he provides.
The corporate has adopted a centralised construction to handle its pan-African operations. Whereas every territory has its personal nation director and operations staff, departments like advertising and marketing, finance, and provide chain are centralised and based mostly in Côte d’Ivoire.
“It’s simpler to have one focus level,” Lapaire notes. Nevertheless, he admits this has its downfalls, significantly when it comes to advertising and marketing the place native context is typically wanted.
Classes learnt: Adapting and trusting
Lapaire stresses the significance of being keen to shut down a enterprise unit that isn’t working, citing his determination to desert the preliminary B2B technique centered on promoting to firm staff.
Though B2B gross sales have been the muse of the enterprise and worthwhile, Lapaire realised that it wasn’t a scalable mannequin. Challenges included complicated unit economics, a finite variety of potential company shoppers, frequent postponement of occasions, and workers typically ready idly for assignments to corporations.
“I mentioned we have to cease it and, sure, we are going to lose prospects, we are going to lose income, but it surely doesn’t matter – the B2C strategy, the place we drive folks to our location, is extra scalable.”
One other key issue contributing to Lapaire Glasses’ success, he believes, is his potential to belief folks. “I’m not a micro-manager.”
This strategy proved essential when the corporate expanded to Côte d’Ivoire, because it enabled him to relocate there and set up the enterprise, whereas relying on his staff in Kenya to handle operations. “In Kenya … I employed two folks. I labored with them for 3 months and simply gave them the keys of all the enterprise. I gave them entry to the checking account, I gave them entry to every part they usually ran the enterprise.”
“If you wish to scale it’s essential to belief folks. You’ll be able to’t scale if you happen to’re by yourself and also you wish to management every part,” he provides.
