Peddling bikes in South Africa.

• Author: Sheehan, Molly O'Meara
• Position: Afribike - Brief Article

* Peddling bikes in South Africa: In an effort to provide communities with much needed transportation options, South Africa-based Afribike last year launched several "bike aid franchises" to promote and maintain bicycling. For decades, charitable groups have collected used bikes in Europe and the United States and delivered them to people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, but these projects have not been able to sustain a dependable stream of bikes, tools and spare parts. In contrast, Afribike is leveraging support from the South African government and private foundations to establish locally owned and operated businesses with a reliable supply of vehicles and parts from bicycle manufacturers.

By offering local entrepreneurs a stake in a shop, Afribike is helping to change the concept of development assistance as a simple donation from rich countries to poor ones. Following the successful small-scale lending or "microfinance" model, Afribike is helping local people take an active role in their own economic development.

"The biggest challenge," says Gustav Erlank, Afribike's Managing Director, "is in establishing service centers where there are none." To build a customer base, the Afribike shops are partnering with microfinancing institutions that will give people access to credit to buy a bike.

Afribike uses some of the same marketing principles employed by corporations such as McDonald's to make their product more valuable to communities. Afribike's equivalent of the "golden arches" is a trademark bike shop building: the stores are housed in the same 40 square foot metal container in which the initial supply of bikes and parts are shipped from Johannesburg. Afribike has arranged to...