BackAdding a spring to the step of ’Jaipur foot’
Adding a spring to the step of 'Jaipur foot'
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PTI
HYDERABAD: The famed Jaipur foot may have restored mobility to landmine amputees and road-accident victims for as little as ₹ 1,000 but to keep those who make the artificial limb from tripping, a group of B-school students are evolving a sound business model.
“We were approached by those associated with the Jaipur foot in September last year to work out a self-sustaining business model that would make it commercially scalable," Indian School of Business (ISB) Executive Director (Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurial Development) V Chandrasekar told PTI here.
Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti, which makes the prosthesis, wanted a model that would make it commercially sustainable.
“The deal was facilitated by Goldman Sachs and currently students are working on the project under the Base of the Pyramid Learning Lab initiative at ISB," he said.
The model would seek to provide a three-fold benefit to the Jaipur foot organization. It would be profitable, sustainable and socially relevant too.
A team of two students from the School and an Estonian national are working on the project and would be submitting their recommendations by the end of this month.
“While the Jaipur foot is a great concept, the business model it currently works on is plagued by a number of problems. The artifical limbs, which in most instances are given free of cost, are not standardized.
“The finances it receives through donations too are not streamlined," Base of the Pyramid Learning Lab Director and Visiting Scholar at ISB Reuben Abraham said.
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