Bamboo bicycles create sustainable businesses in Africa

Friday, 17 July 2009 07:53

Several projects to build bicycles from bamboo are shooting up in Africa. In both Ghana and Zambia, manufacturing bamboo bicycles provides not only a much needed product, but also has several other benefits, such as its positive impact on the environment.

According to The Earth Institute, bamboo bicycles can provide a necessary and viable form of transportation. Aside from their environmental friendliness, their production provides both a direct and indirect means of finding employment, as lack of access to transportation is often a fundamental limiter to employment opportunities in Africa.

On the African continent, relatively few people have the means to own cars or even motorcycles and bicycles, and people without access to such means of transportation are forced to rely on an inadequate bus system, which is also expensive for many. Additionally, bicycles currently used in Africa - typically produced in China and India - are woefully inadequate for transportation in the region.

The key advantage of turning bamboo bicycles into sustainable businesses is that the bamboo grows locally, which helps save both money and energy. When only smaller component parts such as gears and wheels have to be imported, a single shipping container can hold parts for up to 2,000 bicycles, whereas it can only hold about 500 fully assembled bicycles.

Furthermore, the manufacturing of bicycle frames made from locally grown bamboo does not require much in the way of infrastructure, nor does it require much electricity. For these reasons, bamboo bicycles may provide a sustainable form of business that creates employment even in areas where power is scarce.

Perhaps the earliest entrepreneur to recognize such advantages was U.S.-based bicycle designer Craig Calfee, who began experimenting with bamboo as a material for bicycle frames several years ago. It has been reported that Calfee first latched onto this idea when he noticed his dog struggling to sink its teeth into a stick of bamboo. His prototypes showed that the strength of the plant made it a great substitute for metal, and his company, CalfeeDesign, soon devised a plan to manufacture bamboo frames in developing countries, setting up a workshop in Accra, Ghana.

Another group of innovators were the founders of Zambikes, a company based in Lusaka, Zambia, started by two Californians and two Zambians. In a BBC profile, the founders recall their idea to come up with a business that would be both a source of employment and provide a useful product. They settled on the ‘zambike’, a rugged bicycle made from traditional materials, which soon evolved into other bicycle types, such as the ‘zambulance’ now in use throughout Lusaka. Soon, CalfeeDesign and Zambikes were in contact.

In the Zambikes workshop near Luganda, bamboo bicycles are now produced through an intentionally low-tech manufacturing process that makes use of both bamboo and other locally grown natural materials, such as plant fibre, woven into tough cords which are used for binding the joints of bicycles.

Now, Zambikes' bamboo bicycles are being targeted at the American market, something which is unheard of for a Zambian-made product. One reason why this is so unusual is that both tools and raw materials are prohibitively expensive for potential Zambian start-ups.

Therefore, the availability of a low-cost raw material right on Zambians’ doorstep is quite the godsend. Another significant advantage of bamboo is that it is the world’s fastest growing plant, with African species growing several meters a year.

“And of course there’s very little impact on the environment,” Zambikes co-founder Dustin McBride says.

Meanwhile, Craig Calfee’s own ‘Bamboosero’ project has set up two groups of manufacturers: One in Accra and one in Abompe, a small village in eastern Ghana. Both are now taking orders for mountain bikes and cargo bikes.

Photo: A village elder test-riding a bamboo cargo bicycle outside Accra, Ghana (The Earth Institute).