Mozambikes

Case studies profile Kabissa members that inspire our volunteers and the entire Kabissa community. They are meant to provide Kabissa’s members with key learnings and spark ideas and discussion.

In this case study, we tell the story of Mozambikes – which won Kabissa’s inaugural photo competition in Summer 2011 – highlighting its growth as an organization, its model for sustainable operations, the lessons it has learned and its goals for the future.

The Challenge

When Lauren Thomas and Rui Mesquita, the founders of Mozambikes, arrived in Mozambique, a country where 90 percent of the population engages in small-scale farming, they noted the need for a personal, efficient mode of transportation. Many Mozambicans must walk for hours with heavy water cans or bundles of firewood on their heads. Where the scarce system of minibuses exists, people must still walk kilometers to reach the stops.

Intensifying the struggles of everyday life are the stark realities of poverty, disease and illiteracy. The average income in Mozambique is less than $2 per day, as incomes are limited by how much, how fast and how long individuals must carry their agricultural products. Less than 60 percent are literate due to lack of access to effective schools. Meanwhile, nearly two million people are living with HIV and AIDS, while over 3,000 people die each year from malaria, a treatable disease – due in large part to insufficient access to health clinics.

These challenges have the potential to be alleviated by an efficient bicycle market that Mozambikes is helping to develop, creating greater access for Mozambicans, facilitating increased productivity and ultimately, helping to improve quality of life.

The Goal

Mozambikes seeks to amplify the developmental impact of bicycles by building a mass market of higher quality bicycles that are available throughout the country for one low price. It aims to build a bicycle industry with an affordable, higher-quality product, in addition to an aftermarket network. Mozambikes’ bicycles are differentiated from traditional bicycles through their ability to move four times faster and carry five times more weight, as well as a physical structure more suited to the local geography.

It sells at a flat price country-wide and specifically targets low-income markets that most need these bicycles. Mozambikes estimates that if it can increase income by five times for even a quarter of impoverished residents, GNI per capita can rise from $370 to over $555.

The Mozambikes Model

Mozambikes works with three primary stakeholder groups to create a sustainable solution for Mozambicans limited by their transportation options:

• Local Businesses/Advertisers
  
  Businesses traditionally have difficulty reaching the lowest income markets in Mozambique, as traditional marketing channels (internet, television, magazines) are not used by this population. Mozambikes offers advertisers a solution by placing billboards on the bicycles themselves. These traveling billboards will allow advertisers to reach the most rural of neighborhoods, while the advertising fees help Mozambikes to remain sustainable despite its low consumer market prices.
   
• Employees
  
  Mozambikes began with eight employees, but expects to grow to 30 within five years. In addition to its direct employees, Mozambikes is seeking to develop a network of entrepreneurs who can provide aftermarket service for its bicycle owners. The business plans to give these technicians training and access to spare parts in exchange for a discount offered to Mozambike owners.
   
• Retailers/Distributors
  
  Mozambike retailers and distributors earn a competitive fixed margin for their contribution for bringing the bicycles to market. It selects its network depending on the geographical needs of its advertisers, but favor partners with a robust network and strong ties throughout the country.

Greatest Successes and Lessons Learned

Mozambikes’ two key successes have been delivering its first container of bicycles and launching an affiliate donation arm:

• Mozambikes successfully imported its first container of 1,200 bikes en route to Mozambique. The business spent more than a year testing suppliers, designing its ideal bicycle and finalizing the purchase order with its preferred supplier. It is currently taking inventory and finalizing contracts with prospective advertisers before launching production, with work on the “advertising bicycles” soon to come. 
   
• The team also developed Mozambikes Social Development, a non-profit to gather donations and buy bicycles at cost from the Mozambican entity through a customer/supplier relationship. The business then gives away bicycles to people in Mozambique who earn below minimum wage. The non-profit has launched to family and friends of the founders and has collected donations for nearly 60 bicycles to date. 

The greatest lesson learned has been how to properly pace the growth of the organization. While the team has numerous ideas for enhancing its offering and social impact, it is first necessary to prove the core model on the market and establish its sustainability.

Goals for the Future

Mozambikes’ local vision is to be the pre-eminent provider of bicycles in Mozambique, with a goal of selling 150,000 bicycles in five years. To accomplish this, Mozambikes will require a steady flow of advertising so that within five years, it becomes a standard advertising channel in low income markets.

In addition to the success of its core business model, Mozambikes is also looking create change through a variety of socially conscious initiatives. Within five years, the organization seeks to:

• Campaign for bicycle safety throughout the country and bicycle lanes in Maputo, the country’s capital and largest city
• Build a network of entrepreneurs to provide aftermarket bicycle repairs
• Engage in a variety of new bicycle technologies

Within the next five years, Mozambikes also aims to begin exploring expansion to Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Angola.

Photo Courtesy Lauren Thomas, Mozambikes