Mozambike, bringing high-quality bicycles on the road

As the SEED 2016 Symposium took place in Nairobi in September, the Practitioner Hub for Inclusive Business caught up with a previous award winner, Mozambikes.

What prompted you to start your business?

Mozambikes was born on a road trip, when the founders were struck with the long distances that rural Mozambicans walk on a daily basis, with such heavy loads on their heads. We began to speak with people to understand why they didn’t use bicycles, and quickly learned that the bicycle market in Mozambique was full of low quality bikes that were still too expensive for the people who need them. We began to brainstorm ideas to help, and designed the Mozambikes model on that same trip. We felt so confident that our plan could impact the lives of many Mozambicans, and so we felt compelled to move forward.

What does your business offer to your clients? What is the core value proposition?

The Mozambike is a specially-designed bicycle of high quality, with components and accessories important for the conditions of rural Mozambique. We brand the bicycles with the colors and logos of different companies and organizations, making the bicycle something of value to them in terms of advertising, social responsibility and of course, quality transport. With this model, the branding partners either fully fund or reduce the cost of the actual bicycle to the end users.

What stage of operation have you reached?

Mozambikes has over 10,000 bicycles on the road and is currently seeking a fundraise to scale up with new products, distribution channels and geographies. We have a lot of ideas to reach many thousands more, and need the partners to enable that growth.

Tell us about your impact – social/environmental/economic.

The Mozambikes model is a pure “triple bottom line” model. Each bicycle we sell changes the lives of the end users (social) and provides clean, green transport that provides environmental benefits versus motorized transport. Bicycles also enable people to reduce their vulnerability to climate change and the increasing costs of fuel.

Do you have partners and how do they work with you? Do you regard partnerships with other actors as a key route to scale or do you prefer to go it alone?

Mozambikes was launched by two co-founders and we have built our team to include an amazing staff of 14 workers across our warehouse and office. We have numerous partners to supplement this team, including a Mozambican social media agency and KIVA, a US organization that is facilitating the growth of our bicycle micro-loan product.  We also consider all branding “clients” to be partners, as they are enabling our model of mass distribution of high quality bikes.

What challenges have been encountered during implementation? How are you overcoming these challenges?

We struggle from day-to-day challenges such as theft and stock control. Our biggest challenge is related to financing, as the bank finance in Mozambique is cost-prohibitive with rates over 20%, and practically none of the patient capital investors in East and South Africa will venture into Mozambique. While we understand that the country is still building investment-worthy businesses, we challenge these funds to dare to enter Mozambique and trust that there is at least one established and impactful business ready to scale!

How has the social enterprise landscape changed since you first started your business? What has improved and where do you think improvement is still necessary?

There is a lot of attention to social enterprise and entrepreneurship in Mozambique these days, which is really exciting. Unfortunately, the resources to support such businesses are lagging in progress. There are very few grant funds and most are very sector specific (i.e. agricultural implements, etc.)  As mentioned above, there is a tremendous dearth of general social investors that are conspicuously absence in the country despite their general regional presence.

In your opinion, what are the key factors that your business has or is seeking that will enable it to reach scale? How important is reaching scale for your business?

Mozambikes has a proven, established business that continues to grow each year, albeit at a measured pace through organic growth. We will continue to grow at a moderate pace even without additional resources to speed up scaling activities. We have deep relationships with all NGOs and large private sector businesses, as well as with the leading ad agencies in Mozambique who sometimes sell our bikes on our behalf. Financing to scale would allow us to immediately access the tremendous market of Johannesburg/Pretoria in South Africa, develop new products and other initiatives that would allow to us achieve much more rapid growth.

Can you tell us a bit about what support you’ve received from the SEED accelerator programme and what has had the most impact on your business?

Mozambikes will be earning funding and mentoring that is really targeted to assist us in achieving our priority growth goals. It is really rare to find a programme that listens to your needs and works with you to develop the support plan.  We will be particularly focusing on growing our international presence/partnerships, growing our micro-loan program and expanding into neighboring markets.

Where do you see your business ten years from now?

In 10 years, we hope that Mozambikes will be prevalent throughout the region and will be a consistent component of all advertising packages, as well as CSR and philanthropy programs. We want branded bicycles to be considered as effective in advertising as billboards and t-shirts, and more impactful in social impact programs than many existing activities that require substantial annual maintenance. We want our steady-state sales rate to exceed 25,000 bicycles per year.

What is the one piece of advice you would give to aspiring social entrepreneurs looking to start an inclusive business?

Our advice mirrors the same advice I regularly see – be patient and be persistent. Nothing happens overnight, and continued persistence and hard work often pays off. I also encourage them not to take the easy way out, such as waiting for grant funds before you get started or sacrificing social impact for short-term economic gains.