The partnership between Randstad and World Bicycle Relief (WBR) is rooted in a powerful symbol: the bicycle. More than 60 years ago, Randstad’s founder, Frits Goldschmeding, used his bicycle to accompany his very first temp worker to her new assignment in Amsterdam. That small gesture, on a bike, set in motion a global company and a legacy of connecting people with opportunity.
In 2017, Randstad returned to that founding symbol by starting to support World Bicycle Relief. Since then, the partnership has grown steadily in reach and ambition. To date, Randstad has donated over €1 million, helping to fund mobility programs that empower thousands of people across Sub-Saharan Africa. Together, the two organizations are creating pathways to education, healthcare, economic opportunity, and climate resilience—one bicycle at a time.
At the heart of this partnership lies a belief in mobility not just as transport, but as transformation. For both Randstad and WBR, the bicycle is a tool to unlock human potential and expand access to services, markets, and self-determined futures. Over the years, this vision has evolved into a strategic, multi-year collaboration encompassing funding, employee engagement, and symbolic action.
Randstad’s long-term financial commitment has enabled the implementation of WBR’s Mobilized Communities program. This holistic model tackles rural mobility barriers in sectors such as education, healthcare, livelihoods, and the environment by providing durable Buffalo Bicycles purpose-built by World Bicycle Relief to meet the needs of low-infrastructure regions. At the same time, Randstad’s global workforce has embraced the cause by participating in annual Pedal to Empower campaigns, held each June around World Bicycle Day. In 2025, each kilometer cycled by a Randstad employee will trigger a €0.20 donation to WBR, transforming physical movement into tangible impact.
Randstad also gifts miniature bicycles to employees as a tribute to its origins and a reinforcement of its identity. This symbolic gesture not only strengthens the company’s identity but also aligns internal culture with a broader mission of equitable access.
From 2022 to 2024, Randstad funded the Mobilized Communities program in Zimbabwe, focusing on the rural districts of Hwange and Binga. These regions face steep developmental barriers—long travel distances, poor road infrastructure, and limited access to health and education. With Randstad’s support, WBR distributed 2,700 Buffalo Bicycles to students, health workers, lead farmers, and conservation volunteers.
The program’s outcomes were profound:
In 2025, Randstad is supporting an innovative new chapter in WBR’s work: the Mobilizing the Blue Economy initiative in Tanzania. This program, co-designed with VSO, will target mobility gaps in fishing communities. These communities play a vital role in Tanzania’s economy, but many face logistical and infrastructure barriers that limit their access to markets, education, and health services.
To address these gaps, 420 Buffalo Bicycles will be distributed through a blend of targeted donations and subsidized sales. Recipients will include 50 secondary students—especially girls who walk long distances to school—20 community health workers, 26 VSO champions (local leaders and volunteers trained to deliver essential services and drive social change within their communities), and 24 to the Fisheries Education and Training Agency to support access to vocational training. An additional 300 bicycles will be made available through a “buy one, get one” (incentivized) sales model to local groups and cooperatives, starting with Women Savings Groups, helping women gain access to a productive asset.
The incentivized model is designed to promote Buffalo bicycle access, ownership, and affordability for low-income communities. WBR uses financing strategies to reduce cost barriers to ownership. By leveraging collective purchasing power, this model enables groups to pool resources, making bicycles more attainable while fostering economic empowerment, agency, and self-reliance.
This program builds on the proven success of the Mobilized Communities model and adapts it to a new context where mobility can unlock opportunity in aquaculture, trade, and vocational education.
Beyond distribution, the partnership also piloted WBR’s Incentivised Sales model in Zimbabwe, through which women’s savings groups acquired bicycles on a co-investment basis. These bicycles soon became tools of economic empowerment for vegetable vendors, tailors, and fish traders, cutting transport costs, boosting productivity, and improving household earnings.
What sets this partnership apart is its systems-level approach to impact. Randstad’s long-standing support allows WBR to go beyond one-time donations and build durable, community-owned bicycle ecosystems. These ecosystems include local bicycle shops, trained mechanics, monitoring tools, and feedback loops that ensure every bicycle continues to generate value for years.
Together, Randstad and World Bicycle Relief have mobilized thousands of individuals—and, by extension, their families, businesses, schools, and communities.
This bicycle is more than just transport. It is a symbol of resilience, progression, and hope for all of us in Binga
