World Bicycle Relief employs more than 50 assemblers globally, to build and deliver our rugged Buffalo Bicycles. Assemblers hone their skills in specialized areas of the production, becoming experts on specific components. Knowledge and best practices are shared between facilities, creating the spread of innovation from team to team.
An integral part of every program, our 3,000+ trained field mechanics ensure that students and health workers have regular access to quality maintenance and spare parts. Additionally, we operate more than 50 local retail shops, where people can purchase spare parts and invest in a Buffalo Bicycle to grow their household productivity and small businesses.
As part of our Mobilized Communities, programs are built together with Bicycle Supervisory Committees (BSC), groups composed of a diverse group of local leaders and members elected to reflect each community. The BSC plays a vital role in determining which children are in greatest need of bicycles, program monitoring, the schools’ bicycle policies and providing feedback about what is working and what can be improved.
We combine impactful nonprofit programs with social enterprise sales to deliver greater efficiencies of scale, distribute more bicycles per donation and generate deeper impact where we work. Sales from our for-profit subsidiary Buffalo Bicycles Ltd. help fund more program bicycles for those in need, building the virtuous cycle.
People can be helped out of extreme poverty and into shared prosperity on two wheels.