Master Strategist Day 2024: Crafting Sankara’s Vision for 2030

At INSEAD, the mission of advancing business as a force for good begins in the classroom. A key example is the Master Strategist Day (MSD), a full-day event integrated into the core strategy class. 

Held twice a year, it engages over 500 MBA students across campuses in tackling real-world challenges for not-for-profit organisations. Guided by senior strategists, students compete to develop strategic solutions, with finalist teams presenting recommendations to a judging panel of faculty and executives.

Read on to discover the inspiring journey of one of the winning teams from the MBA'25J class and their innovative approach to tackling the challenge.

The premise

After weeks of classroom discussions on strategy frameworks and diagnosing business challenges in our "Introduction to Strategy" course, Master Strategist Day 2024 brought theory to life. The task: to develop a strategy to enable Sankara Eye Foundation to achieve its ambitious goal of performing 400,000 free eye surgeries annually by 2030 while becoming financially self-sufficient.

The process

Preparation began with an external analysis of South Asia’s eye-care industry, which helped us understand the market dynamics, trends, and strategies of key players in the region.

On the big day, we were introduced to Sankara’s leadership, who shared the organisation's inspiring journey and its unique "profit-for-purpose" model—where revenue from paying patients subsidises free surgeries for underserved rural populations.

Detailed case materials and performance metrics provided a foundation for crafting our proposals.

We had just 18 hours to crack the case: analyse the data, brainstorm ideas, and deliver a recommendation. Our team, representing six different countries and industries, embodied the diversity that INSEAD fosters. Each member brought a unique perspective: Abhinav (Consumer, India), Angelo (Engineering, Italy), Axel (Banking, Norway), Juliette (Healthcare, US), Kana (Technology, Japan), and Mor (Law, Israel). 

Our respective backgrounds meant we could draw upon experience and expertise from different industries and geographies.  

Halfway through, we had the opportunity for a Q&A session with Sankara’s leadership. Their candid insights into past successes and failures and reservations about certain ideas were important and helped finetune our recommendations. Mentors from Bain & Company provided critical guidance on structuring our presentations and acted as devil’s advocate, making us think about the viability of our recommendations in a real-world setting.

The strategy

After rigorous debates and ranking potential solutions based on innovation, feasibility, economic viability and social impact, we narrowed our recommendations to these three main strategies:

1. Expand diabetic retinopathy services: Leverage advanced technologies and strategic partnerships to treat this growing condition, adopting a blue-ocean strategy to establish unique value and open new revenue streams.
2. Forge alliances with optical chains: Partner with leading Indian optical brands to diversify revenue streams and enhance outreach.
3. Streamline operations: Optimise efficiency, improve the patient experience, and reduce wait times at Sankara’s facilities.

Our final recommendation centred on expanding diabetic retinopathy services for paying patients. This chronic condition, increasingly prevalent among the population (along with diabetes), could create a recurring revenue stream given the nature of follow-up treatments.

We proposed a phased approach:

1. Initially target paying patients to generate sustainable revenue.
2. Use the revenue to expand infrastructure and increase the share of free surgeries.
3. Gradually achieve Sankara’s 80/20 ratio of paid-to-free surgeries.

The experience and learnings

Master Strategist Day is an opportunity to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world problem-solving. The intensity of the exercise demands clear thinking, quick decision-making, and the ability to be flexible in the face of evolving insights. The buzzing energy across campus—with students working tirelessly, some even overnight—adds to the excitement.

Presenting our recommendations to the panel was both humbling and exhilarating. The feedback we received—both praise and constructive criticism—exposed us to the intricacies of healthcare strategy and challenged us to think more deeply about our solutions.

This experience increased our appreciation of the role of strategy in driving social change and reinforced the importance of aligning solutions with an organisation’s values. It highlighted the impact a well-thought-out strategy can have in addressing real-world challenges and making a meaningful difference.

INSEAD is grateful to the donors of the Hugo van Berckel Award, the Moondance Foundation, and the Andrew Land Fund, for their generous support.

This is supported by the INSEAD Healthcare Management Initiative.