Getting Bikes to the People Who Need Them

Bicycle enthusiasts around the world collect unused bikes found easily in their communities. Each 500 or so bikes fill a 40' shipping container, which is sent to Ghana.

Once the bikes arrive in Ghana, about 150 bikes from each container go to villages outside the capitol city of Accra and are used in our bicycle repair workshops. The workshops are free and allow the participant to purchase one of our bikes at half the market price. The skills learned in the workshop give the new owner the knowledge needed to keep the bike in good condition, and to know when to seek help from the village bike repairer.

The rest of the bikes from the container are sold to local bike retailers to pay the cost of shipping the container to Africa (currently about $5000!).  These bikes serve our mission by increasing the availability of bikes to Africans, helping bikes become an accepted mode of affordable transportation.

Why do we sell the bikes to repair workshop participants?

This is a fundamental question of development. Giving away bikes (or anything) diminishes the value and floods the market, which puts local merchants out of business. Free bikes often end up in the possession of the powerful instead of the people who can put them to the best use. Also, by selling discounted  bikes, we can deliver two bikes for the same price as giving one bike away for free.