Container 9 Lands, Opening a New Phase in our Distribution of Bikes in Africa

Africa Bike Drive, Jonmol Bicycle Service - Botswana, MakVeto - Namibia, MK Cycles - Zimbabwe, Sister Shops in Africa, Village Bicycle Project - Sierra Leone Comments Off
Aug 052011

Filled to the brim with 480 donation bikes, container #9 has completed its 10-week journey to Gaborone, Botswana, and should clear customs in a few days. This latest resupply container represents a new direction in our model for distributing bicycles in Africa.

In the past, one single Sister Shop has been the recipient of an entire resupply container, taking the entire cost of transport and customs into their overall financial plan. Some difficulties in this approach have been the high up-front cost for the Sister Shop, and a shortage of physical space to store such a large shipment of bikes.

For our new model we’ve partnered with two avid cyclist brothers, both Kalahari Challenge competitors, who own a freight distribution company. They have agreed to store the donation bikes and send them out to our Sister Shops in ‘as-needed’ batches.

This system of distribution offers many advantages for the Sister Shops and for the Mike’s Bikes Foundation. First and foremost, the Sister Shops will be able to take delivery of inventory in smaller, more timely and more affordable batches, which eliminates the problems of lack of storage, slow resupply, and high up-front cost. Being able to forecast and plan inventories and expenditures accurately, the Sister Shops can now become more self-reliant and self-sustaining. On our end, this method of distribution enables the Foundation to focus its attention on increasing bike donations in the U.S. and gives us more time to devote to our new project in Sierra Leone. Because the new system ensures that shipping costs get reimbursed, the foundation will be able to afford to increase the number of shipments annually, while still allowing the bicycles to arrive at the Sister Shops cheaply enough for them to be affordable for buyers in the community.

In order to achieve the high-level goals of large scale distribution of bicycles in Africa and a widespread African transportation cycling culture, we need to speed up the flow of bikes to end users. The sooner we can scale distribution up, the sooner bicycle manufacturers will see opportunities to market their products and services in Africa. And with increased scale will come lower prices, enabling people in developing Africa to have a life-changing transportation option open to them.

This new model is a leap forward in long-term sustainability for the Mike’s Bikes Foundation Africa projects. To our knowledge, it is the the first distribution program of its kind.

Posted by Mike at 10:27 am

Container #10 is on its way to Sierra Leone!

Africa Bike Drive, Village Bicycle Project - Sierra Leone Comments Off
Jul 182011

Donation bikes reached almost to the roof of our warehouse!

Container #10 was picked up Friday morning, July 15th, for its trip to Sierra Leone. Once they land the bikes will be warehoused at our newest Sister Shop in Freetown and then distributed in smaller bunches to village-level bicycle shops facilitated by the Village Bicycle Project.

The response to the June bike drive we ran in collaboration with PODS was overwhelming. Three entire bays of our warehouse were filled with donated bikes and parts. The biggest pile reached almost to the ceiling! To get as many bikes to Africa as possible, we decided to go with the largest size shipping container available – a 45 footer – which was a first for us.

We learned a few years ago that the most efficient method to fill a container is the “pancake” method. Bikes are prepared for shipping by having their pedals removed and their handlebars twisted to be parallel to the front tire. Bikes are then stacked like pancakes in the container, with kids bikes, wheels and frames used to fill in the gaps and support the load.

We are told that bikes are routinely cannibalized for parts in Sierra Leone because of the extreme shortage of useable spares. At the request of the Village Bicycle Project, we also sent numerous boxes of used bicycle repair stands, tools, tubes, replacement parts, and other necessities to keep these bikes up and running.

The container will be arriving at its destination in the Fall, and we’re proud to say that villages in Sierra Leone will be the new homes of the 481 life-changing bikes on board.

There were so many bikes in the pile, it took a lot of patience to extract them from each other.

 

 

 

Posted by Mike at 12:02 pm

June 13-26 Bike Drive for Africa

Africa Bike Drive, Village Bicycle Project - Sierra Leone Comments Off
Jun 092011

PODS of San Francisco donated nine PODS® containers to Mike’s Bikes to store donations for its upcoming Africa Bike Drive, June 13-26.

The PODS® containers will serve as temporary bicycle donation centers and provide on-site storage at nine Mike’s Bikes locations throughout Northern California. At the end of the bicycle drive, PODS will drive the containers to a central staging area where volunteers and staff will prepare the bikes for shipment to Africa.

“PODS is committed to aiding Mike’s Bikes and this worthy cause,” said George Spowart, vice president of marketing at PODS Enterprises, Inc. based in Clearwater, Fla. “It is always an honor to be involved in the charitable efforts of the communities we serve, whether it’s helping make a difference down the street or halfway around the world.”

This is Mike’s Bikes tenth shipment to Africa; its second bound for Sierra Leone. Donations are tax-deductible and will be accepted from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 13-26 at the following store locations:

2161 University Ave., Berkeley, CA 94704
201 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos, CA 95030
3001 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94306
264 Petaluma Blvd North, Petaluma, CA 94952
1411 I St. (at 14th), Sacramento, CA 95814
1233 Howard St. (between 8th & 9th), San Francisco, CA 94103
836 Fourth St., San Rafael, CA 94901
No. 1 Gate 6 Rd., Sausalito, CA 94965
1615 North California Blvd., Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Mike’s Bikes designed the Africa Sister Shops program to build a self-sustaining supply of working bikes in Africa, and to promote economic growth by teaching African entrepreneurs how to run a bike business. With hopes of creating job opportunities in the local community, Mike’s Bikes collects and sends donated bikes and start-up funding to these developing African countries as well provides mentoring to the owners of the Africa Sister Shops.

“The PODS® containers will provide great visibility to our nine stores that will pull together for two weeks to collect bicycles from each community, pack them in an overseas container then ship them to our Sister Shops in Africa,” said Ken Martin, owner of Mike’s Bikes, based in San Francisco. “Once in Africa, the bike shop sells bicycles to local residents at affordable prices, which encourages local commerce, provides transportation and helps improve everyday life one bike at a time.”

The ninth shipment from Mike’s Bikes included 480 bicycles. It left the Port of Oakland bound for Botswana on May 25 and is expected to arrive in about six weeks.

Posted by Mike at 11:17 am

PRESS RELEASE: Village Bicycle Project and the Mike's Bikes Foundation partner to bring bikes to Sierra Leone.

Village Bicycle Project - Sierra Leone Comments Off
Nov 232010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

A Big Boost for Bicycles in Africa

Village Bicycle Project and the Mike’s Bikes Foundation partner to bring bikes to Sierra Leone.

SAN RAFAEL, California (November 23, 2010) – The Mike’s Bikes Foundation and Village Bicycle Project have partnered to initiate a project in 2011 to distribute bicycles throughout the West African country of Sierra Leone. This partnership ushers in a new era of involvement in Africa for Mike’s Bikes, and enables both organizations to extend their reach into new areas and serve more people.

Since 2007, Ken Martin and Matt Adams, co-owners of Mike’s Bikes, America’s largest locally-owned bike shop, have used their expertise in bicycle retailing to increase access to bicycles in Africa. Adams explains, “We believe that by getting people on bikes, it improves their lives. Bicycles have an even greater positive impact on society in Africa than they do in California, because people’s mobility is so much more constrained there. In parts of Africa, a bicycle can make the difference between living in abject poverty versus receiving healthcare, getting an education, or realizing employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.” In 2007, the pair traveled to Ghana and used their retail knowledge to instruct mechanics on proper bike assembly and train independent bike shop owners about the importance of the customer service experience to creating financially sustainable shops. They founded the Mike’s Bikes Foundation in 2008 to continue the work to increase access to bicycles in Africa.

The Foundation has established three locally owned and operated “Mike’s Bikes Sister Shops” since that time. In 2008, Jonmol Bicycle Services was established in Botswana, MakVeto was opened in rural Namibia in 2009, and MK Cycles opened Zimbabwe this past October. All of these shops received seed investment in the form of hundreds of bicycles donated by Mike’s Bikes customers, as well as parts, supplies and a combination of micro-loans and direct cash assistance from the Mike’s Bikes Foundation.

The vision for the new Sierra Leone collaboration includes Mike’s Bikes sponsoring, training and mentoring the owner of an existing shop in the capitol of Freetown in the art of running a full-service bicycle shop. Topics will include general business practices such as accounting, sourcing, marketing and the customer experience, as well as specific mechanical instruction to achieve high quality bicycle repair. This shop will then serve as a processing hub for all the bicycles and parts that Village Bicycle Project needs for its many initiatives out in the countryside, where VBP is the proven expert in small-scale rural distribution. In this way, each non-profit can focus on their core capacity, and use their expertise to enhance the work of the partner.

“We are very excited about our partnership with the Village Bicycle Project, “ says Ken Martin. “They have been very successful at getting bikes into the hands of ordinary Africans in remote rural villages. By collaborating with them in Sierra Leone to build a solid distribution center combined with a Mike’s Bikes Sister Shop, we will all be better able to accomplish our philanthropic goals.”

 

Contact:

Ken Martin, Co-owner Mike’s Bikes

ken.martin@mikesbikes.com

(415) 720 6880

 

Mike’s Bikes is the largest independently operated bicycle shop in the US, with eight Northern California locations. The company formed The Mike’s Bikes Foundation in 2007 to leverage their retail experience and bicycle expertise to help build the bike culture and improve everyday life in Africa. The Foundation’s goal is to jumpstart self-sustaining local businesses and create supply chains of new and used bikes to those parts of Africa that can benefit most from the personal mobility that only a bike can provide. More information can be found at MikesBikesAfrica.com

Village Bicycle Project was founded in 1999 to increase bicycle use in Africa by sending donated bikes to Africa, teaching bike maintenance, supporting mechanics with tools and spare parts and address the special needs of African women and girls. To date they have sent over 100 containers to Africa to support their programs. More information can be found at VillageBicycleProject.org

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Posted by Mike at 2:49 pm
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