A Bike with a Future

Name: Phocas Ndolimana
Age: 21
Hometown: Kinigi, Rwanda (Northern Province)
Dependents: Mother, two younger brothers - ages 2 and 3
Income before Project Rwanda cargo bike: $180 per year
Income since then: $535 (3x previous per year)
Target income: $35,000 by the year 2020

Only two years ago, job prospects for Phocas Ndolimana were grim. Head of the household at 19, Phocas farmed potatoes on a small plot, struggling to generate enough income to care for his aging mother and two younger siblings. With only a grammar school education, Phocas’ future seemed limited to the brutal realities of subsistence farming.

Last year, the president of a farming union approached Phocas and introduced him to the local cooperative. This, as a way to work with other growers to pool resources and increase their earnings.

Phocas decided to join the cooperative with a goal of higher crop yields and profits. In August 2008, Phocas took possession of a Project Rwanda cargo bike. A joint effort between the local farming cooperative and micro-lender, Urwego Bank made this possible (Urwego in Kinyarwanda – the native tongue – means to provide someone ‘a ladder up’).