About

Mike’s Bikes believes in the power of the bicycle.

Not only for recreation, fitness, and competition, but as a ecologically and fiscally sustainable vehicle that can promote freedom and change in the lives of people who need it most. Because of this belief, Mike’s Bikes has undertaken projects that are helping to put bicycles directly into the hands of people in the developing African countries of Ghana, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Sierra Leone.

There are a number of ventures that use bicycles to aid developing communities in Africa, but we found the existing ones to be primarily donation programs that are not self-sustaining long-term. To solve this shortcoming, the Mike’s Bikes Foundation started our Africa Bike Drive and Sister Shop program. We collect donation bikes in all of our retail stores which we then ship in containers to Africa. When these containers land, we meet them on the ground and partner with locals to create community bike shops. We provide start-up funding and on-the-ground business and mechanical training to help these local partners in creating their own independent and self-sustaining businesses. Once established, these shops can service the donation bikes to keep them working for years to come, and also generate their own capital to be able to import more bicycles into the community. We established Sister Shops in Zimbabwe in 2010, Namibia in 2009 and Botswana in 2008. In 2007, we went to Ghana as a technical and business educator in the California Bicycle Coalition’s Industry Roadshow Project.

In 2011 we are changing our model slightly and partnering with the Village Bicycle Project to support their network of rural bicycle shops in Sierra Leone with a central, urban distribution center located in a Mike’s Bikes Sister Shop. Through this partnership, we hope that we are able to expand the impact of both projects.

The goal of all of these projects is to develop a network of bicycle infrastructure and support in parts of the world where the bicycle is uniquely positioned to empower individuals and advance a society. The bicycle can help in the development of many parts of Africa by providing people with an inexpensive and non-polluting vehicle that provides access to employment, education, health care, and a better overall quality of life. The bicycle has the power to help and in Africa we’re doing our best to develop the infrastructure that will advance and support it.

Click to make a tax-deductable secure donation to our Africa projects