Jagriti Yatra 2017 - Day 4 - Dec 27: Aravind Eye Care, Madurai

The whole day is at Aravind Eye care, which I would call a 100% perfect Social Enterprise. They hit the right balance between People service and Commercials.

1. Infinite Vision

We started with this Amazing video, which summarizes what Aravind eye care is about

2. Q&A by Administrative head, Mr. Tulsiraj

[Have noted COMPLETE details in my Notebook. Need help in formatting it properly and post it here]

3. Presentation on Past and Present by Dr. Krishnaraj

4. Excellent Inspiring talk by Mrs. Nachiyat, younger sister of Dr. V

[Have noted MOST details in my Notebook. Need help in formatting it properly and post it here]

5. Video Call with Dr. Aravind, who is Heading newly built Chennai branch.

His talk can be summarized into following 2 points:
  1. Find your Aspiration / Purpose
  2. Dont be Restless. Build at your own Pace

6. Q&A with 4 founding members

Mr. Srinivasan
  1. 70+ aged Young Engineer,
  2. Who is always keen on completing current Project and taking up the next one.
Dr. P. Narayanaswamy
  1. Brought focus on research
Dr. G. Nachiyar
  1. People manager
Dr. R. D. Ravindran
  1. Current chairman

7. Damn Inspiring talk by Dr. G. Nachiyar

Few takeaways:
  1. It's Dr. V's thought that Government can't do everything on their own. We all need to step up.
  2. Aravind is largest Eye care provider in the world, not the largest Hospital
  3. Aravind handles 50% of the State volume and 7% of the country's Volume in Eye treatment
  4. Every entity small or large should have a Managerial Team or atleast a Single managaer. 
  5. Organizational culture should be instilled in all Employees.
  6. Reach out to Non - Customers, who are People with needs but is not connected to market in any way.
  7. 100% discipline, 100% Punctuality
  8. Focus on the Huge bottom of the Pyramid with low profit margin
  9. Recruitment: Give maximum importance to Attitude of the Person, rather than Knowledge / skill.
  10. For checkup, They charge Rs. 20 in rural centers and Rs. 100 in the city.
  11. Be Frugal: No matter how much resource you have, be very very conservative on expending even small amounts.
  12. Culture begins from the Top.

8. Hospital visit

We had our Lunch and went for the amazing Hospital visit. Mr. Muthuramalingam sir took us through Paid hospital building and the free one, which doesn't differ much in terms of Service. Mr. Muthuramalingam sir has been working there for 40 years, since 1977 when he finished his Education. That's what I call Loyalty, inspired by the Big bold vision set by the Legend Dr. V
Srini, Muthuramalingam Sir and Me

9. Panel discussion

We have a Panel discussion on Social Entrepreneurship by following 4 delegates, hosted by .....

Mr. Gijs
  1. From my favorite Auroville
  2. Who incubates Young entrepreneurs.
Mrs. Meenakshi
  1. Who runs a big hospitality service, named The Bangalow
Ms. Vichitra from Sivakasi
  1. She is a 3rd generation Entrepreneur in her family
  2. She runs a food ratail called Puppys Bakery, among many other things.
  3. And more importantly she is all about Pink :-)
Dr. Prahalathan
  1. No one in Chennai needs his Introduction and I know him before.
  2. Doc runs one of the India's largest NGO, Bhumi.
  3. Catering to proper Education for School kids.
  4. Apart from their Educational core, they also do many other things like Environment protection activities, Road safety activities, etc.,
  5. He also helped me a lot in my Social ventures before.
  6. Surprised and Very happy to see him here.

10. Shalabh Mittal

Finished the day with a mind opening discussion on Entrepreurship. He asked me a simple Question "Who is an Entrepreneur?" and I messed up. His excellent definition based on rethinking from First principle thinking was amazing!

Had an amazing Day 4 @ Aravind hospital. Loads of things to learn from Aravind on how to balance between Social impact and Commercials. INSPIRED!

Perfect blend of Social Impact and Commercials


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