Driving Forces - Collective Hub 2017

Beyond Kenya’s bustling cities, roads fade into dirt tracks populated by privately owned minibuses (matatas) that get so crowded, those who don’t fit have to cling to the outside.

For most, their only other accessible transport option is flagging down a passing motorcycle taxi (boda boda).

Popular for their ability to navigate otherwise inaccessible roads, motorbikes can snake through the nightmarish congestion that plague local cities. Bikes also provide vital job opportunities for young, unemployed men who can buy a cheap bike on credit and offer taxi services. They take kids to school, drop people off at markets, act as impromptu ambulances and there are even reports of their use as standby hearses for funerals.

“It’s pretty hair-raising to see the way people navigate their way through traffic when it’s really dense,” explains Adrian Caddy, CEO and founder of London strategy and design company Greenspace. “I wouldn’t say it’s lawless, but it’s not what you or I would be used to. You sometimes see a whole family sitting on a motorbike, without wearing a helmet. I’ve seen a guy on a motorbike carrying two beds, if you can imagine.”

So when he heard Dutch social entrepreneur Huib van de Grijspaarde’s planned to revolutionise the African motorbike industry with the Kibo150 bike, Adrian was immediately on board.

Yet for all their benefits, motorbikes in several East African countries, like Kenya and Uganda, mixed with congestion and poorly maintained roads, bring serious problems, they are commonly called ‘silent killers’ causing staggering death tolls. There are 300,000 boda bodas in Uganda, and there are 20 boda-related admissions at a Kampala hospital every day, while Kenya’s 44 million people have a road death toll is almost 10 times higher than Australia: up to 13,000 people die on African roads each year. Pedestrians account for the majority of those killed, followed by passengers and then motorcyclists. A mother and her one-week-old baby were killed while they were travelling on a motorbike with another woman and her child. Kids have been killed on their way to school.

Huib had identified two main contributing factors in motorbike related deaths: most of the bikes in Africa are cheap imports that aren’t designed to go off road, where most of the riding is being done, and they’re being driven by untrained riders.

Adrian, whose team works on the branding of Kibo, explains that Huib aimed to solve the off-road issue first: no one’s going to stop untrained riders from hopping on a bike, so it may as well be the safest bike possible.

“He set about designing a bike from the ground up that would be perfect for the road conditions, and at a price point that would be more accessible to more people,” says Adrian. “It’s kind of two bikes in one. The top half of the bike is more like a street bike with a nice long seat, and the bottom half is more like a dirtbike. It has very high ground clearance, big treaded tyres, and an incredibly strong and tough welded steel frame.”

The Kibo150’s 150cc engine offers both power and efficiency. The dual-sport tyres on large wheels (12-inch and the front and 18-inch at the back) offer high ground clearance, and a reinforced bash plate protects the underside from rough roads. The top of the bike is more horizontal to hold passengers and cargo, comes with high quality bakes and a frame that protects riders more from impacts.

Manufactured and assembled in Kenya, Kibo150 is priced at 342,200 Kenyan shillings (AU$4340). (While still too expensive for many locals, there is considerable interest from couriers, the medical community and NGOs who also need affordable, safe and easy transport).

Being able to carry cargo is important for farmers and doctors who deliver provisions to isolated communities. “The bike can carry a payload of about 250 pounds which is really strong,” says Adrian. It’s also important to have a comfortable space for passengers, as boda boda drivers transport a bewildering number of clients.

Statistics on the number of boda boda and motorbikes in operation are difficult to come by due to the large number of unregistered vehicles, however, in 2014, the Motorcycle Assemblers Association of Kenya (MAAK) estimated that close to half a million bikes were on Kenyan roads, with 99 per cent of those being boda bodas.

The problem of safety is another issue. A 2015 study found that, of the 370 Kenyan boda boda drivers interviewed, 62.2 per cent were not formally trained to ride, and the majority of riders (66.5 per cent) had low levels of motorcycle knowledge. Only 34 per cent used helmets.

While some regulations have been put in place – like ensuring bikes are sold with two helmets and two high-visibility jackets – the national transport Director-General Francis Meja has said the issue of safety needs to be “addressed at the grassroots level”.

That’s is where initiatives like Safeboda – a ride-sharing app that provides passengers with registered, qualified drivers who provide safety gear – and Kibo150 come into play.

“The Kibo150 comes with service, maintenance, parts, and even rider training,” explains Adrian. “Kibo teach people to ride the bikes. They sell helmets and jackets and boots. It’s all part and parcel of the design; to build a business that has a big focus on safety and mobility and independence.”

“Most of the parts are bespoke design,” he adds. “They’re taken to Nairobi where the whole bike is hand assembled. This means some of the import taxes are negated, and the labour is available. The company employs about 50 people to date, which pays back into the whole idea about knowledge transfer, skills and business that’s going to employ people and generate economy.”

The Kibo150 launched earlier this year in Nairobi with a big party held in an aircraft hangar. But the future of Kibo, Adrian says, is a long one. The plan is to open 15 factory stores with maintenance depots, have franchisees come on board so the company can expand into other countries like Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania, and build an upgraded version of the bike with a 250cc engine. And Greenspace is in it for the long haul.

“When we came along, he’d already been working for four or five years developing this motorcycle company,” says Adrian. “Huib had no experience manufacturing motorbikes, but they were just putting the finishing touches on the first production-ready bikes. We’re definitely committed to the long term with these guys. It’s about creating legacies, that’s our thing.”

This story appeared in issue 49 of Collective Hub in 2017.