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Essilor International’s chairman and CEO, Hubert Sagnieres, continued his exclusive interview with Vision Monday by introducing Crizal UV lenses and the related E-SPF [Eye-Sun Protection Factor] index. The discussion concluded with an explanation of Essilor’s plans to increase its sustainability initiatives throughout the world and its growth both organically and through acquisitions.

 
VM: Related to Essilor’s innovative products, specifically in the U.S., what are the fastest growing products…or what will they be?

SAGNIERES: Optifog and Crizal UV definitely!

VM: Crizal UV is interesting because messages about UV have been coming to the consumer in a lot of different ways, Transitions is obviously playing a large role in talking about UV every day. But with Crizal UV, now you’re bringing this widely used coating and the UV message to another level regarding backside reflections. Do you also see that as a worldwide issue?

SAGNIERES: The issue we are all having with UV is absolutely worldwide. It’s not just under the sun; it’s everywhere and every day. So, first of all, if you don’t put on eyeglasses or sunglasses, you’re getting all the UV in the world. If you have eyeglasses, then you protect the front, but as you know, 40 percent of the UV is reflected from the back, and it’s concentrated on your retina.

VM: Is Crizal UV a product/program you’re doing everywhere?

SAGNIERES: Everywhere in the world.

VM: And has it started in other parts of the world?

SAGNIERES: No, this one we kept for the U.S. to launch first.

VM: What will be the timetable for the rest of the world?

SAGNIERES: The rest of the world will have it in the next six months.

VM: And will the E-SPF [Eye-Sun Protection Factor] index be worldwide also?

SAGNIERES: That will be supported by U.S., European, Asian experts. It’s totally global, E-SPF.

VM: The E-SPF is such a powerful message. Is that something that you would communicate directly to consumers as well?

SAGNIERES: Everywhere. It’s a global launching, first in the U.S. Optifog was first in Europe and Asia, Crizal UV is first in the U.S., and the E-SPF is definitely a global worldwide recognized indicator. There was no great indicator to actually tell the consumer if you’re eyeglasses are good or bad, so we developed it, and we’re rolling it out everywhere in the world on all eyeglasses.

VM: Like sunscreen, where various companies use it, would you expect other companies to adopt it at some point?

SAGNIERES: For sure. It’s a scale for all.


Corporate Sustainability and “Connecting the Dots”

SAGNIERES: Another trend we have seen in the past three years, and this is global, are more and more studies, facts, proving or showing that lack of vision is a cost for economies, is a cost for countries, is a cost for corporations, a cost for individuals and a cost through missed opportunities or through accidents or health problems of poor vision. I have personally been 25 years in this industry. I have never seen so many surveys coming up from universities, economical centers, United Nations, the WHO (World Health Organization) in Switzerland, explaining the cost of lack of vision on the economy of the world. This was not happening a few years ago. This connecting of the dots between the importance of vision, the importance of really seeing well, and the cost on your own life, on your own family, on your own company, on your own country, now appears to be a key point.

Now everyone is looking at all points that could improve health and also reduce costs in all countries and all economies. So when economists look at the cost of vision impairment, the cost of people going blind or having too high level of UV in their eyes, and things like that, they recognize that this is really a cost.

VM: On the subject of sustainability, let’s talk about the 2.5 billion you mentioned. There are a lot of organizations trying to address the needs of people who have undetected refractive error, but tell us about Essilor’s initiatives as a company.


SAGNIERES: We have global initiatives and in the U.S. A few years ago, we developed the Essilor Vision Foundation specifically dedicated to kids, rolling programs into communities everywhere in the U.S. and using the strength of our 10,000 employees. Here we have programs like Kids Vision for Life or Adopt-a-School, and we have such initiatives everywhere in the world. We have some in India with vans, we have some in China with optical booths, and each country has some initiatives dedicated to improving vision on this segment of the pyramid. Some are charities, like the Essilor Vision Foundation; others are more social businesses, like the Rural Marketing Project in India. This is an area that we will develop much more this year under the umbrella of the Essilor Vision Foundation’s programs just because it’s a huge need, and we believe at Essilor it is part of our mission to develop that everywhere in the world.

VM: What is the umbrella that you have for all these kinds of initiatives?

SAGNIERES: It’s been the Corporate Sustainability Division. In 2012, we’ll put more resources into all those initiatives internally but also through partners that we have identified in some countries.

VM: Do you have an international foundation? Is Essilor Vision Foundation considered global?

SAGNIERES: It’s in the U.S. and becoming more global. We are in the process of unifying all around the world because we have a lot of local initiatives under many, many names. We first established the sustainability group more than 10 years ago.


Organic Growth vs. Acquisitions

VM: Essilor has grown both organically and through a lot of acquisitions. Do you anticipate any changes going forward, or will you still pursue both ideas for growing the company?

SAGNIERES: The are two growth levels when you are a pure player like Essilor, innovation with products and services providing much better products, but on the other side of that, the optical industry worldwide is a very highly fragmented industry.

Throughout the world you may have close to 2,000 or 3,000 distributors, labs selling to opticians and optometrists. An industry as important as vision, for the life of the people and the strength of economies, has much less power when it is fragmented than when it is a little bit consolidated. So we started a step-by-step strategy 20 years ago, not specifically of growing but of answering “yes” to the local actor that wanted to partner with us and continue to develop their business. So it’s not really acquisitions; it’s really partnership with local actors, successful businesses, entrepreneurs who have locally developed very strong businesses. So because of the time in their business life they can continue to develop their business not alone but under the umbrella of a leader that could bring them more resources…in terms of people or finance or technologies.

That is something that we will continue to do because the industry really is fragmented. A lot of entrepreneurs are approaching us and want to continue to partner with us.

VM: Around the world, optometry and opticianry and even ophthalmology are not always as mature as in other parts of the world, and they’re not even recognized in some parts of the world. What role does Essilor play in the development of eye doctors?

SAGNIERES: Today in the world there are between 450,000 and 500,000 eyecare professionals. If you look at the need for eyecare professionals to serve the 4.2 billion people who need vision correction, we may need three times more, so we are partnering in China and in India to create schools, education for dispensers, various types of dispensing. This is something that in fast growing countries we are promoting and developing with local partners. That trend is happening everywhere in the world because people realize that optics are important; they need the professionals, and the professionals have to be educated.