Jérôme Lapaire, CEO of Lapaire Glasses
Swiss entrepreneur Jérôme Lapaire noticed a chance for reasonably priced eyeglasses in Africa. At present, Lapaire Glasses has a presence in a number of African nations and has raised tens of millions of {dollars} in funding.
What I like concerning the story of this firm is how Lapaire began the enterprise in Kenya with minimal setup prices. On the time, he had no connections in glasses manufacturing nor a longtime provide chain. However this didn’t cease him from launching the enterprise.
What Lapaire did was he ordered a number of dozen glasses from an abroad web site utilizing his bank card and introduced them as Lapaire Glasses’ preliminary vary.
“I did it completely freestyle,” stated the thirty-something entrepreneur in an interview with How we made it in Africa. “I stated, okay, the place can I get eyeglasses? I do know no provider domestically. 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 had been shipped to me in Kenya, and I confirmed them because the Lapaire first fashions. Easy!”
“The setup prices had been very restricted. I did all the things from my condo on the very starting,” he added.
After about six months of ordering glasses on-line, Lapaire partnered with a correct native provider.
Lapaire’s strategy exhibits you don’t must have all the things discovered earlier than beginning a enterprise. Typically it’s higher simply to begin and start getting suggestions from the market. You additionally don’t must make huge investments upfront, which is vital in case you are not but certain concerning the degree of demand on your services or products.
Learn our full interview with Jérôme Lapaire: Entrepreneur capitalises on Africa’s demand for affordable eyeglasses