In India, there are 200 million people who need eye care and less than ten percent of them have been reached. Moreover, 80 percent of these eye problems can be easily prevented or treated. Thulasiraj Ravilla, Executive Director of the Aravind Eye Care System, talks about how the clinic manages to serve such a large number of patients each year, only 40% of them paying customers. Dr. V., the clinic’s founder, chose an interesting source of inspiration when looking for a way to deliver low cost, consistent, efficient service in India and worldwide – McDonald’s. Watch the video below.

Dr. Devi Shetty brings an innovative approach to heart surgery in India by using economies of scale to drive the price per surgery down. His flagship heart hospital, Narayana Hrudayalaya, has about 10 times the number of beds as its typical American counterpart, and the cost of surgery averages at about $2,000, versus the $20,000-$100,000 Americans pay. But does handling such a large volume of patients affect the quality of care they receive?

Read the article at the Wall Street Journal to find out.

Reena Kapoor is the principal of Conifer Consulting, a marketing consulting firm based in Silicon Valley. A native of India, Ms. Kapoor came to the United States in 1988 to attend graduate school, received her Master’s degree from Northwestern University, and went on to work at Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods before starting several businesses of her own. We met with Ms. Kapoor in Los Altos, California to explore her thoughts on culture and entrepreneurship and marketing strategy for entrepreneurs.
 
Kaizen: It is a long way from India to Silicon Valley. Where in India did you grow up?

Kapoor: Yes, it definitely is a long way. I actually grew up all over India. My father was a doctor in the army, so I had the typical nomadic army life growing up. So when I think about India—I’m from India, but sometimes it’s hard for me to pinpoint an exact region, because some of my formative years are not from my hometown, which is New Delhi, because I didn’t spend a lot of time there.

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