“How do you balance your financial needs and desires with having a meaningful work?” – how to give someone his God back, what it has to do with reading glasses and how opportunities can just fly in.

Dr. Jordan Kassalow, Chairman & Co-Founder, Scojo Foundation, New York, NY, USA

“When I was still a student of eye care I volunteered in Mexico. I just wanted to have a cool experience and to practice clinical skills.” - Jordan Kassalow told us in his New York office about his first experiences as an eye doc-tor. - “On my first day, a six year old boy came to see me. He was supposed to be blind but after examining him with my professor, we realized that he was not blind but just extremely short sighted (22 dioptre). He has never had access to glasses so the used ones that we gave him from our pool were the first glasses he ever had. They made him see the world for the first time. Suddenly his face became animated and his life transformed. It was a very powerful moment; both of our lives changed.
Another very touching experience during this summer in Mexico was a very religious older woman who has not been able to read her bible for the last ten years. She had a comparatively small visual impairment which could be treated easily with normal reading glasses. However, the difference in her quality of life was immense - it was like giving her God back. She was so thankful that she queued up for hours the next day to give me 20 hens as a thank you present. Experiences like these made me recognize quite early in my career that my passion was not earning lots of money, but being able to make a difference in the lives of other people.”
After gathering bottom-up experience for ten years, wor-king in the field in Bolivia, India and Africa, and top-down experience for five years, working for the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and establishing a global health program therel, Jordan decided to establish Scojo Vision and Scojo Foundation together with his business partner Scott Berrie. Scojo Vision provides people in the deve-loped world with affordable, leading edge design glasses and the 5% of their pre-tax profits are used to finance the Scojo Foundation. This organisation provides people in the developing world with continuous access to glasses that are affordable for them. The system is set up in a way where it not only enables people to be active members of their families and societies again, something they lost when losing their eyesight, but it also creates thousands of small businesses that sell and distribute the glasses.

Enjoy Jordan’s selected thoughts and statements of our discussion below. You may be able to read more about his work and passion in our book “MyImpact”.

Dr. Jordan Kassalow’s selected quotations:
"How do you balance your financial needs and desires with having meaningful work - that's pretty much one of the most important questions I ask myself."

"I learned about Dr. V (Aravind Eye Care System) in India and wrote him a letter. After spending a year teaching and learning at Aravind, I decided to dedicate a good part of my time to international community ophthalmology."

"I still spend 2 days a week in my private practice in Man-hattan - that's the work that ensures financial stability for my family. Every year I take 8 weeks off to work overseas."

"During my work for the Council on Foreign Relations, I realized that many young bankers and lawyers were envious of their peers who were engaged in meaningful work on behalf of the NGO community. The NGO people, on the other hand, were longing for the lifestyle that the bankers could afford. I kept wondering if it really was such an exclusive either-or. And I learned from the people who had both."

"I am convinced that we need to think of health in terms of economics, security and international relations. Only then can we secure the necessary resources."

"When the trend for affordable luxury started a couple of years ago, we realized that there was a market for stylish, inexpensive glasses. That's how Scojo Vision started."

"The glasses we sell in India and some other countries are produced in China and their price is at around 1-1½ USD. Our goal now is to broaden the access to these glasses."

“In the process of developing a country program, we work hard to identify potential Scojo Vision Entre-preneurs among local women who demonstrate an interest in starting their own busi-nesses. By giving women the opportunity to earn income through their own small eyeglass businesses, Scojo Foun-dation helps ensure that women and children have access to education, adequate nutrition, and the health services they need.”

"In our long-term vision 5% of Scojo Vision profits will cover all the headquarter cost of the foundation. The sales revenues will cover the field operating cost and we will use donations for development of new programs."

"I believe in the future it is going to be the combination of busi-ness and development where I will place my energy. It is not a combination that will solve all the world’s issues but it is a very successful way to create financially sus-tainable solutions for many poor people."

"In an enterprise everyone down the line has to prosper; Scojo Foundation and our Vision Entrepreneurs must make a margin on the sale and our customers have to gain access to a quality product. That's why we not only sell the glasses but also create and train small businesses that sell them. That way the product has a double effect; it creates jobs and sustains jobs."

"It's a challenge to figure out where one can be most effective. I often ask myself whether my butt is in the right chair and whether other people should do some things and I be some-where else. My strengths are managing, building bridges, fundraising... that’s what I need to be doing."

"The death bed test is quite helpful. If you can think of many shoudda, coudda, wouldda’s - you better get to them now."

"People all over the world have a very basic, same moti-vation - they want a better life for their children. And for that they are compelled to do something."

"I value personal freedom, the freedom to follow passions and live out potential. That's, I guess, why I care so much about people who do not have the chance to even come close to their own potential."

"I find it exciting to be engaged in the world, not in just a very small slice of it. The most intellectual part of my motivation is the fact that I like to create things and to solve problems."

"When you follow your path, opportunities just come out more easily. If you take risk and make yourself open to opportunities, there is this momentum and they just flow in."

"The downside of my job is that I work a lot. After spen-ding some time in the evening with the kids, I still work until late. But, it's not a sacrifice, it's something I choose to do and as long as it fits with my other priorities - like time with my family - I am happy to continue."

Some background on Dr. Jordan Kassalow:
Jordan Kassalow grew up in New York, son to a eye doc-tor father. He received his Doctorate of Optometry from the New England College of Optometry and his Master in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
He spent several years abroad and, in his role as the Director of the Onchocerciasis Division at Helen Keller International, was responsible for the hiring and management of more than 50 employees, 90% of whom were based in the 19 countries throughout Africa. Jordan has also worked intermittently in India for more than 15 years before joining
the Council on Foreign Relations and introducing the perception of health as an international policy issue
to the Think Tank.
In 2000 Jordan founded Scojo Vision together with his business partner Scott Berrie. He is still a practicing optometrist and brings a wealth of experience in the fields of business, eye glass manufac-turing, and international eye care.
Jordan is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on several boards including Lighthouse International.

Some background on Scojo Foundation:
Scojo Foundation was established by the partners of Scojo Vision, LLC, which donates 5% of its profits to the foundation.
Nearly 1.6 billion people living in the developing world need reading glasses, but less than 5% have access to afford-able options. Scojo Foundation is broadening global access to reading glasses, training local entrepreneurs and improving overall quality of life. In particular Scojo Foundation takes care of the following issues:
- Developing markets for reading glasses at the base of the economic pyramid.
- Selecting, training, equipping and funding local entre-preneurs to establish new businesses that sell reading glasses.
- Providing high-quality, affordable reading glasses for its programs.
- Bringing reading glasses and referral services directly to the customer at the village level.
- Conducting innovative and locally relevant social marketing campaigns to raise awareness about blurry up-close vision.

If you would like to engage with the work of Jordan Kassalow or get to know more about Scojo Foundation please visit www.scojofoundation.org, or, for more specific opportunities, contact joanna.stefanska@myimpact.ch or wolfgang.hafenmayer@myimpact.ch directly.