Update African Bicycle Design Contest - TU Delft

African Bicycle Trailer

WM1203TU Design Challenge Kipepeo Design Team: Jan Ustohal Rianne Houba Nico Zahn Joo young Joung

Coach:

4119231 1259830 4073398 1535919

Patrick van der Duin

Delft Centre for Entrepreneurship Delft University of Technology

Introduction In front of you lies the midterm report of the African bicycle design team of the Design Challenge 2011.

During this project four students from the TU Delft will develop a multipurpose bicycle trailer for East Africa for the Dutch NGO Cycling Out Of Poverty.

The team will write a business model and marketing strategy for the trailer to ensure a sustainable business and will build a prototype of the final design.

In the third chapter a market analysis is performed.

This shows information on the current transportation systems, the relation between these systems and the project and information on available materials in the region. The fourth chapter discussed the possible business models for the design which is followed by chapter five in which the continuation of the project is set out.

This report shows the analysis phase of the project in which background information about the assignment is gathered. The report starts with an introduction of the team and their interpretation of the challenge.

The second chapter deals with the context which will answer questions on the economy of the area, the infrastructure and transportation situation and on the cultural values of the region.

Together these chapters will give a clear overview of the results of the project up to this moment and show which steps will be taken in the next phase of the project.

FIGURE 1 A bicycle pulling a trailer loaded high with plastic bottles for recycling

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African Bicycle Trailer

Table of contents Introduction 02 Part 1 | PROJECT 05 Team Organization 06 The Challenge 07 Project Goal/ Vision 08 Stakeholders 09 Approach Part II | Context 10 Context 14 Cultural Values Part III | Market 19 Transportation/ Bicycle 21 Other means of Transport 22 Competing Produsts 23 Bicycle Materials 24 Material Selection 25 The 4P’s Part IV | Business 27 In what form it could be sold: 27 Potential Customer 28 Financing Part IV | Product 30 Product Goal 30 Product Leadership 31 Design Planning 32 Functions References 35 2011 Design Challenge / TU Delft

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Part 1 | Project In this chapter the project will be introduced to the reader. First the teammembers and their background and focus within the project will be mentioned. Secondly the challenge that was given out by the client will be explained.To see how the team interpreted the challenge and which direction it will be taken in the vision, scope and approach of the project are mentioned.This will give the reader an idea of the intentions of the team and shows which elements will be focused on. How the project will be tackled is explained in the approach.The chapter is concluded with an overview of people that are associated with the project.

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African Bicycle Trailer

05 Team Organization 06 The Challenge 07 Project Goal 07 Vision 08 Stakeholders 09 Approach

Team organization We are a group of students from the Delft University of Technology, participating in this year’s Design Challenge.We all have different cultural and academic background, which makes our team truly diverse.

Three out of four members are students of the Faculty of Industrial Design (IDE) and one is studying at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM). In this section, each member will be briefly introduced, together with his/hers motivation for Design Challenge.

Jan Ustohal Jan’s current field of study is Management of Technology, however, he has a strong technical background from his bachelor studies. Although he has always considered mountain bikes and road bikes as a sports tool, in recent years, he became interested in bike technology as well, becoming a “bike geek”.

In Netherlands, he has discovered the true potential of bicycle as a commuting and transport tool. This, together with his interest in entrepreneurship and challenging project motivated him to participate in the Design Challenge.

Rianne Houba

Jan Ustohal(22)/ MoT, TBM from Czech Republic

Rianne Houba(25)/ IPD, IO from The Netherlands

Nico Zahn(28)/ SPD, IO from Germany

Rianne’s interest in Bottom of pyramid (BOP) projects has first awoken during her stay in South America. As a part of her bachelor at the Faculty of Industrial Design at DUT, she has participated in the International Entrepreneurship and Development minor, where she gained valuable practical experience with BOP design and business activities in developing countries. In the summer of 2010, her group went to Ghana to perform a field-study for the Focus on Vision project, which gave her even more experience with entrepreneurial activities in BOP countries.

Nico Zahn Nico’s passion for bicycles has developed since his early years. After spending his youth biking, he became more interested in the bicycle construction as well. This interest has spurred his passion for product design, and steered his life towards it. Nico’s knowledge about material flow in manufacturing, part costs estimation and reduction or prototype development is a great addition to our team.

Joo Young Jung

Joo Jung(29)/ IPD, IO from South Korea

Joo has studied the Industrial Design Engineering in South Korea. Her work experience contains various positions in concept development, product design and research in domestic appliances for companies such as Samsung. Since her childhood, she sees bicycle as a tool of freedom. Her motivation is to provide a chance of such freedom to people, that were not that lucky to be born in more developed countries.

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The Challenge The challenge we are facing is very different from the other Design Challenge teams. Our client is a NGO called Cycling out of Poverty, that selects and coaches partnering organizations in Africa.These organizations engage with projects related to bicycles, and through CooP, they are provided initial funding to start their business. The main purpose of these organizations is to help local people to obtain bicycles for their entrepreneurial activities, help them with their business plans and provide them with basic bicycle repair training. Once the system of beneficiaries is established, the money flow between them and the organization should make it completely sustainable.

Luuk Eickmans and Marieke de Wild established CooP in year 2006, after conducting research about the impact of bicycles in Africa. Since 2007, CooP is an official foundation, participating in many projects in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda etc. One of the largest projects is the bicycle workshop in Kisumu, Kenya, providing bicycle Rwanda repair courses, and employment and micro credit for bicycles.

FIGURE 2 Kipepeo – Multipurpose bicycle trailer

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African Bicycle Trailer

Each year, CooP, with a help of a design company called Ideal&Co, organizes a design contest called African Bicycle Design Contest. This contest is divided into two parts --- in the first one, everybody can submit their ideas designs of bicycle enhancements and accessories, and the best ones are then realized in the second round. There are currently 5 university teams working on the 5 best ideas, 4 of them being from the Netherlands and one from the USA. Our assignment for the ABDC, which is also our assignment for the design challenge is to design a multipurpose bicycle trailer for transporting cargo and people and create a sustainable implementation strategy for its production and distribution.

As a source of inspiration, we will be using one of the winning designs, a multipurpose bicycle trailer Kipepeo designed and made by a Brazilian Juliano Pappalardo.

Project goal

Vision

“Develop a multipurpose bicycle trailer (prototype). It should be able to either carry heavy loads or persons.

It should fit behind all bicycles. The prototype should be accompanied with a business plan for a sustainable market penetration in Kenya.”

Opportunity

That said, it is clear that the project has two main parts - design and business strategy. Hence, the project goal can be further specified:

Variability

Design • Identify specific properties and features fulfilling target group’s needs • Study the material availability and propose the most suitable material • Study the manufacturing possibilities with respect to local manufacturing • Create multiple variants of the bicycle trailer and choose the most suitable one • Create a final prototype of the design • Create a production manual for the trailer

Convenience

Help

Business strategy • • • • •

Analyze the target group Determine the possible business models Determine the pricing and costs Create a business strategy for the trailer Determine the promotion and marketing strategy

Opportunity Provide local entrepreneurs the opportunity to enhance their profits and performance for affordable price

Variability This project does NOT however contain the Possibility to adjust the trailer to suit each client’s practical implementation of the business concept or needs manufacturing the trailer in Kenya. This project does not count with field-research in Kenya either.

Convenience Easy to handle, manufacture and maintain

Help Make the life of each owner a bit easier

Stakeholders It is a qualitative analysis of all parties and individuals Coach directly and indirected involved in the African Bicycle. Patrick van der Duin is our coach fro the Design Challenge. He provides us with necessary guidance and advice, and thanks to his business background, he Stakeholders Analysis Stakeholders analysis is a valuable holistic approach will be a very valuable help for the integration plan. for assessing factors that will influence a product throughout its life cycle. It allows us to identify all The flow diagram displayed in figure 5 illustrates individuals and groups that have the potential to the flow of money, during the diferent stages of influence and be influenced during the life cycle of production and use. the product. Through identifying how these different This allows us not only to clearly see how the actors are involved we are able to anticipate kinds of different stake holders are related and interact influence (positive or negative) these groups will have with each other but also; who is influences design on a project. And develop strategies for the most considerations (information); where costs and profits effective progress of the project through integrated can be optimised (money); and where environmental and democratic decisions making. impacts can be most easily reduced (goods and services). These flows and each stakeholders involvement has explained below.

Client Cycling Out Of Poverty (COOP) is our main client that will overlook our product and eventually put it into production. Specially, Luuk Eickmans who is the director of Coop, hence the main representative of our client. He is the main person to consult our ideas with, because after all, our final product has to fulfill his requirements and expectations.

FIGURE 3 Stakeholders and the money, information and goods flows between them

Approach The project will be divided into three main phases. In the first phase extensive research is conducted, during which we are gathering information about general context (history, society etc.), economy, culture and market in the East Africa, with special attention to Kenya. The context and ideas phase includes also the Ideation part, where various possibilities and ideas are generated.

The second part focuses on the design of the bike trailer itself. Ideas from the Ideation phase will be transformed into speaific concepts, with the help of two mock-ups and a conceptualization phase. An evaluation of each step will be performed o provide valuable feedback and improve the design before the next step. At the end of the design phase, a final prototype will be made, together with the production manual for manufacturing in Africa.

The third phase is targeted at the business strategy.

First step is the definition of the right business model for the selected target group. Given that, an implementation strategy and a marketing and promotion strategy will be created.

Conclusions The outline that was made in this chapter will guide the team through the project and can be looked back into during the project to keep the focus of the project straight.The project will focus on the design of a multipurpose trailer for East Africa combined with a business strategy that ensures a sustainable business.

The focus within the development of the trailer and its business strategy will lie on four elements which are opportunities, variability, convenience and help.

This will be reached during three main phases namely a research phase, a design phase and a business strategy phase.

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Part II | Context This chapter deals with the context the trailer will be placed in.This will help to understand the conditions and situations the trailer will be used in which indicates some on the requirements it should meet. As the context is East Africa a short introduction on the area will be given after which the economic situation will be explained.This is followed by an analysis of the infrastructure of the area and the means and properties of transportation in East Africa.This shows something about the kind of system the trailer will be placed in.This is followed by a discussion of the consumer trends in the region after which the chapter is concluded with a cultural analysis based on the Hofstede dimensions.

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African Bicycle Trailer

08 Context 09 Cultural Values

Context Here we illustrate the context of East Africa, Kenya, and the overall environment, conditions, economy the bicycle trailer will be used, and locally produced.

FIGURE 6 The Newspaper Challenge n Kenya

Challenges of East Africa FIGURE 4 East Africa Village

(Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania)

East Africa is the easterly region of Africa. It includes five countries, namely Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi that are the members of the East African Community, however Burundi and Rwanda are labeled to be part of Central Africa.

The challenges Tanzania, Uganda, and especially Kenya face are that their economy is heavily based on agriculture and tourism leaving them vulnerable to various cycles of boom and bust. Kenya in particular had poor governance and corruption that eluded industries and provide expensive propositions to enter the Kenyan market.

FIGURE 5 Carrying Wood with Bicycle in East Africa

FIGURE 7 East African Federation

East of Africa

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Economy in Kenya

Infrastructure in Kenya

Kenya is one of the most developed countries in East Africa. Kenya has one of the most developed financial districts and is opening free trade agreements modeled after the EU between other African countries such as Tanzania and Uganda.

Kenya’s main exports are tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum, fish and cement, most of these are exported to the UK, the Netherlands, and neighboring African countries.

Main imports of Kenya are United Arab Emirate, India, China, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Japan and USA. Export income in 2005 was 3.2 billion dollars and imports payments were about 5.7 billion, with a steady decline in the deficit through a new constitution, and recent investment into an infrastructure.

Main cities are Mombasa, Kisumu and Nairobi, which is the capital of Kenya. Nairobi is the largest city in Kenya with a population of 2 million. Nairobi industry focuses around tourism and manufacturing that include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, and cigarettes. Nairobi also hosts the Kenyan stock exchange and the countries various administrations for the country.

FIGURE 8 East African Federation

FIGURE 9 Largest Cities in Kenya

Kenya’s industries are composed of tourism 63%, manufacturing 14%, agriculture/forestry 24%, and mining 1%.Their energy is mostly hydroelectric power plants – they are pioneers in geothermal energy.

Kenya’s large deficit comes from the petroleum imports 25%, however they have a petroleum refinery in Mombasa that produces 60% of the local demand through the Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline.

Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya with a population of 700 thousand and is located next to the Indian Ocean.With a major port its main industry is trade. Roads in Kenya are largely gravel and rural, only in cities the roads are more sophisticated and paved. Cars do transportation in the cities as majority of the roads are asphalted. Motorbikes replace Taxis, Minibuses, three-wheel motorbikes and bicycles taxis.

African Bicycle Trailer

Transportation In Kenya, transport is a big business as people spend a lot of time and effort to travel reducing their time to earn a living. Though various transportations are used, such as animals, wheelbarrows, handcarts, and bicycles. Local communities express interest in designing more appropriate to their needs where they can have a say in the production process.

Local metal smiths and inhabitants of rural areas expressed new types of transport would depend on the cost kept lower than present on carrying capacity of the vehicle being large and ease of propulsion of FIGURE 11 Carrying with a hand cart in the Harbor the device. Examples of these needs and problems resulted in the following transport devices:

Consumer trends in Kenya • An extended bicycle carrier that allows bicycles to carry bulky goods • A domestic water barrow that can carry two jerry cans of water • A bicycle trailer that has insulation for carrying fish • A hand cart that can also be pulled by animals • A mobile shop • A 70 liter portable water tank • A bicycle or hand pulled ambulance

Consumer trends in Kenya are very similar to the ones in the rest of the world – they want to be westernized, and enjoy quality and consuming and expressing their goods through their variety of culture. The observations that were made found that Kenyan’s perceive materials differently as the context of materials differ greatly compared to average European.

For example Bicycles as such are rated high quality in Kenya when certain heaviness exist, and large tubes are used – an impression Europeans would disagree on as existence of carbon or other lightweight materials on bicycles have dispelled this belief. However, there is a great trend and need for high quality bicycles and bicycle parts to catapult individual businesses and provide better transportation to locals.

FIGURE 10 Different ways of transportation

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Cultural values In order to create a design and business plan that is suitable for the context it is placed in, it is important to understand the cultural values in East Africa. This is done by Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions [3].

Hofstede has found 5 dimensions through which a culture can be described. These dimensions are explained below.

PDI Power distance index. The extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.

IDV Individualism. Versus its opposite, collectivism, that is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups.

Influence of the dimensions In figure a the values for East-Africa can be found.

All dimensions will be discussed below and their influence on both the business and the design will be mentioned.

Power distance index As can be seen the power distance index of the region is fairly high. Characteristics of countries with a high PDI are: • • • • •

Greater centralization Tall organization pyramids More supervisory personnel Large wage differentials Structure in which white collar jobs are valued more than blue collar jobs

MAS Masculinity. Versus its opposite, femininity, refers to the distribution of roles between the genders. Very masculine societies have very strict distribution between roles.

UAI Uncertainty avoidance. Deals with a society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity.

LTO Long term orientation. Versus it’s opposite shortterm orientation.

The values of each dimension can be found on the website of Geert Hofstede. The values for East Africa include the countries Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. These values will tell something about the way to set up a business in East-Africa and on the influence of these values on the design.

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FIGURE 12 Hofstede’s dimension for East-Africa

These characteristics have a large influence on the structure of the business that will be set up. A corporation with a clear leader and strict division in power and responsibilities will work well in this region. The business that will be set up for the trailer consists of both production and sales of the design that will be made. A clear division of tasks and responsibilities will be necessary between these two sections who can be led by one project leader. Strict supervision of this project leader will help to keep the project going.

Next to this it is off course important that the structure fits within the current structure of COOP and does not interfere with the hierarchy in this organization.

In terms of the design especially the type of user is influenced by these characteristics. If the trailer becomes a product which brings a person a higher status the selection of the target group should be done wisely. It can off course be said that products which bring status are mostly also more costly and are therefore only attainable for people with high status and vice versa. However this has everything to do with the way the product is marketed which should be done wisely to prevent conflicts in power distribution.

Individualism

shared and the use and maintenance of the trailer can be arranged within the group. This can be social groups, like towns or communities but can also be group of people with the same job, like unions of farmer or retailers.

Masculinity The masculinity has an average score which means that there is some distribution between roles for men and women. Characteristics that are influenced by the masculinity score are: • • • •

Differentiation between sex roles Interference of organizations with people’s lives The amount of women that have qualified jobs The kind of skills that are awarded. Soft intuitive skills against aggression, competition and justice • Issues which are valued. Social rewards against work related issues

The individualism in East-Africa is relatively low. This means that individuals are more comfortable when placed in a group than being treated individually. Since the score of East Africa is average it is expected that there are some differences between gender Characteristics of societies with a low IDV are: roles. This means that employees should get gender appropriate functions to prohibit uncomfortable • Organization as “family” situations for them. Thinking of the trailer business • Organization defends employees interests • Practices are based on loyalty, sense of duty and this would most likely come to a division between production and management function for the men group participation and sales functions for the women, but this needs These facts can be used to set up a successful business. to be checked on site so the social structure is not The organization should be a coherent group in which harmed. employees feel supported and respected. This can Regarding the target group the Bike4Care student be reached by personal contact with all employees group stated that almost everybody has a bike in and strong interference and overview of the project Kenya, but almost no women are seen cycling. Reasons leader. Because of the strong group feeling that exists for this might be physical strength or perhaps the the employees can be motivated not by treated like high PDI value. Fact is that this issue should either be an individual but by being rewarded or punished as a resolved or accepted. This means that the trailer will group. Because all members feel responsible for the either be for the current bicycle driver (men) or can help to stimulate more women with bicycles. rest of the group they will deliver good work.

The placing of the trailer within a collectivistic society should also be considered. It might for instance be considered to make a system in which a trailer is shared by a social group. This way the costs can be

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shared and the use and maintenance of the trailer can be arranged within the group. This can be social groups, like towns or communities but can also be group of people with the same job, like unions of farmer or retailers.

Uncertainty avoidance The uncertainty avoidance index has an average value.

Characteristics that are influenced by the Uncertainty avoidance score are:

• • Masculinity The masculinity has an average score which means • that there is some distribution between roles for • men and women. Characteristics that are influenced • • by the masculinity score are: • • • •

Differentiation between sex roles Interference of organizations with people’s lives The amount of women that have qualified jobs The kind of skills that are awarded. Soft intuitive skills against aggression, competition and justice • Issues which are valued. Social rewards against work related issues Since the score of East Africa is average it is expected that there are some differences between gender roles. This means that employees should get gender appropriate functions to prohibit uncomfortable situations for them. Thinking of the trailer business this would most likely come to a division between production and management function for the men and sales functions for the women, but this needs to be checked on site so the social structure is not harmed.

Regarding the target group the Bike4Care student group stated that almost everybody has a bike in Kenya, but almost no women are seen cycling. Reasons for this might be physical strength or perhaps the high PDI value. Fact is that this issue should either be resolved or accepted. This means that the trailer will either be for the current bicycle driver (men) or can help to stimulate more women with bicycles.

The degree In which activities are structured The amount of written rules More generalists against more specialists Variability against standardization The degree of willingness to take risks The amount of ritualistic behavior

A high score on this dimension would therefore result in very strict rules and regulations within a company to minimize the possibility of unstructured situations.

Because the score of East-Africa is not that high it can be concluded that rules and regulations should be present within a company but they do not have to be very strict. Since uncertainty is not preferred, unambiguous use and production of the trailer will be desirable. This can partly be reached by a good design that is intuitive to use. Since the trailer is meant to be variable in use this might mean that additional manners of use should be explained in a manual or at the moment of selling. A clear manual for the production of the trailer can also take away uncertainties and besides this prevents the change on errors.

Long term orientation The long term orientation value of the region is fairly low. Characteristics of countries with short term orientation are: • • • •

Personal steadiness and stability Protecting your ‘face’ Respect or tradition Reciprocation of greetings, favors and gifts

This means that goals and deadlines within a company should always be planned on a short term. Any long term goals should be divided into smaller subtasks so they will fit the scope of the employees.

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The short term perspective can also have implications for the maintenance of the trailer. As long as the trailer still rides no big repairs will be done even if this increases the total lifetime of the product. The product should therefore be very durable and have easy maintenance to increase its lifespan. The fact that tradition is important can mean that materials that are not traditionally used for certain products might not be accepted easily. This needs to be taken into account when designing the trailer.

for themselves to get more knowledge on the East African culture and therefore be able to develop a better product and business model for the region.

Focus points for them will be the IDV and LTO scores for they show the largest differences.

Dimensions of the cultures To get a better understanding of the values of EastAfrica, the team members can compare it with their own cultural values. This comparison makes it easier to understand where they should pay extra attention during the development of the business model and product. In figure b the values for East-Africa and the culture of each team member can be found. To prevent elaborate texts about the different scores per dimension will not be discussed here.

The team members can use this chart as resource

Conclusions Kenya is one of the most developed countries in East Africa nut the main challenges for the country lie in the fact that their economy relies mainly on agriculture and tourism which can be unstable businesses. Transportation is a big business but can be challenging because of bad road conditions. Most city roads are paved while gravel roads are common in rural areas. The perception on materials differs from the European perspective. Strong materials are for instance expected to be heavy. From the cultural analysis could be seen that in this region power is expected to be distributed unevenly and that the society is very community based. Next to this they are short-term oriented which makes Western longterm perspective impossible to implement. Solutions are mentioned for these issues which should be taken into account during the development of both the trailer and its business model.

FIGURE 13 Comparing the dimensions of East-Africa with the team 2011 Design Challenge / TU Delft

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Part III | Market After analyzing the general context of our target destination, we have to investigate properties and characteristics of the target market. In this part, the general transportation context and the context of bicycle in East Africa is analyzed, together with possible competition in terms of other means of transport and existing bicycle trailers. Separate part of this section is dedicated to materials and their selection..

19 Transportation 19 Bicycle 21 Other means of Transport 22 Competing Produsts 23 Bicycle Materials 24 Material Selection 25 The 4P’s

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African Bicycle Trailer

Transportation

Bicycle

In the modern World, car became a synonym for transport, both personal and cargo. In countries like Germany or Netherlands, approximately every second person owns a motor vehicle (passenger car or motorcycle), and the whole infrastructure is basically car-oriented [7].

Bicycle is the most available non-motorized mean of transport, that allows people to transport higher loads (up to 200kg) to longer distances (up to 50km), compared to walking or using a hand-cart. Bicycle also provides a certain degree of personal freedom, enabling more effective door-to-door transport [4].

In less developed countries,the situation is dramatically different. In East Africa, Kenya leads the imaginary chart with 18 motor vehicles per 1000 people, while other countries, such as Tanzania, Uganda or Rwanda lie below 10 motor vehicles per 1000 people. With the majority of motor vehicles concentrated in big cities, it is clear that the scheme of urban and rural transport is very different.

Currently, the most frequent models of bicycles are so called “roadsters”, that are being imported from China and India. Although there are some bicycle factories in Tanzania or Uganda, but these merely assemble the bikes from imported components, not manufacture their own bicycle models.

The general infrastructure conditions are not very good. In cities, only the main roads in the center are paved and maintained. Outside of the city center, the roads that were paved are decomposing, creating potholes and bumps. Between cities, only 16% of roads is paved, and this figure does not include more than 100,000 km of “unofficial” rural roads frequently used for transport [6, 9]

The reason why “roadsters” are so disseminated is that they are able to withstand rough conditions relatively well, and are by concept rather simple.They have 28” wheels, heavy-duty steel frame and usually just a single gear, or a three-speed hub. Some bikes have a rear coaster brake, other just a simple steel handbrake. The main advantage of such bike is that because the account for about 90% of all models, people are skilled at repairs and maintenance, and the spare parts are mostly available. In Kenya, these bikes are called “black mambas”, because of their color.

FIGURE 14 Transportation in Kenya FIGURE 15 “Black Mamba”, A cheap bicycle common in Kenya.

The price differs according to their sturdiness, and in Kenya ranges from 4500 to 7500 KSH. Even though this is much cheaper than other vehicles, it can still be more than 100% of one family’s annual income [6].

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Apart from “roadsters”, several other brands and models are sold, however, their market share is significantly lower. Regular mountain bikes are sold for approx. 9500 KSH. There is a special light transport bike from Avon (8500KSH) and a modification of a regular bike called Big Boda by the Worldbike organization (10000KSH). From all this attempts, it can be observed that despite the relative preference of “roadsters” or “black mambas”, there is still the need for a better bicycle, that would “simply work” in Kenyan conditions without extensive maintenance costs. To try to fulfill this need, a group of students from the TU Delft, together with CooP, has created a special bike that attempts to solve some of the problems of current bikes while extending the cargo capacity. Their bike will be locally produced in the bicycle workshop in Kisumu and will cost around 10000KSH [9].

Moreover, some second-hand bicycles are even imported from the Western World, with help of one of the numerous NGOs. However, the problem is, that these bikes might be too fragile for rough African conditions, and with the spare parts being too expensive or not available, their lifetime is short.

East Africa gave birth to one phenomena related to bicycles. Boda-Bodas, as they are called, are bicycle taxis (and their drivers), originally used to transport people across the no-man’s-land at the UgandanKenyan border. They are now important part of the transportation system and a viable source of revenues for people. Even though this business is unofficial, boda-boda organizations are being established in many cities striving to unite individual drivers and organize the business better.

Boda-bodas use customized roadsters, with additional reinforcements of the frame and forks, extra cushioned seat at the back and other enhancements.

They either have their own bike, or hire one from the boda-boda organization, because they cannot afford to buy one. Organizations such as Victoria Boda Boda Association try to help boda-bodas to acquire own bicycle by providing microcredit [9].

FIGURE 16 Kenyan bicycle transportation

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African Bicycle Trailer

Other means of transport There are also other means of transport that present Public transport a competition to bicycles.

Due to collapse of civic authority, the public transport services had been privatized, which means there is no control over basic factors such as fares, routes Hand carts and ox-carts Carts are the most primitive way of transporting or timetables. There are two main types of public goods using a “vehicle�. The cart is either pulled transport – regular busses, and shared taxis, so called by one or two people or by a ox. They are used Matatus or Dala Dala [6]. mainly for transport of goods, but also as a mean of transport for travellers, that need to move baggage from one place to another. Among population, being Shared taxi (Matatu, Dala Dala) a hand cart operator is considered to be one of the This concept is typical for Africa. Matatus, as they are worst jobs. called in Kenya, are privately owned vans, minibuses and busses that operate on predetermined routes. In Kenya, they are officially supervised by the Transport Motorcycle For many people, motorcycle is the second step Licensing Board, which tries to enforce certain after the bicycle. Having a motorised vehicle brings transport (only one person per seat) and security status and respect, so many boda-bodas save all their (obligatory seatbelts) rules to make the matatu profits to be able to buy a motorcycle. In Kenya and business more organized. Matatu drivers are often Uganda, motorcycles (in Uganda also called piki-piki) controlled by police, forcing drivers to obey the are slowly increasing their share among boda-bodas, legislation, which makes matatus a suitable way of transport even for tourists [8]. because they offer higher speed and comfort.

FIGURE 18 Matatus: common transportation taxi vehicle FIGURE 17 Motorcycles are getting more common in Kenya

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Competing products Car As mentioned above, cars are owned by just a fraction of people, and they are not accessible for more than 99% of the population. [7]

In the field of bicycle trailers, the competition is quite scarce. Although there might be some trailers seen, these were mostly built by their owners or in one of the metal workshops. However, there are few open concepts of bicycle trailers, that are cheap and easy to manufacture.

Comparison with bicycle All means of transport mentioned above can more or less easily replace bicycle. The closest ones are surely the handcart and the motorcycle. For shorter distances or heavier loads, handcart is the perfect choice. It can be operated by more people, which increases the speed and possible distance, and the size and construction (in most cases it uses old automobile axle) allow it to carry very high loads.

It’s main disadvantage is, of course, the range, which is still much smaller than in case of bicycle. In case of motorcycle, the load is approximately the same, but it provides higher range and higher social status, since it is no more NMT

Practical Action trailer A trailer that was designed by an organization called Practical Action, which develops tools and uses technology to fight poverty. The idea of a bike trailer originated in their branch on Sri Lanka, and then was adopted by the Kenyan branch as well. The trailer is a simple construction with steel tubes frame, steel wire mesh and two bicycle wheels [12].

Bike4care ambulance Concept developed at the TU Delft, which comprises of bicycle and a trailer that is designed as a stretcher for transport of sick or injured people. This trailer could also be used for cargo transport, however, it is not it’s primary purpose.

FIGURE 19 Comparison with bicycle

Position of bicycle The non-motorized transport does not get any respect from drivers of motorized vehicles. The lack of knowledge of traffic and safety rules creates a jungle on the streets, where the strongest wins, and that is often ruled by the drivers of matatus.

This environment is not very beneficial for bicycles that are very vulnerable, especially when loaded with cargo [5].

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African Bicycle Trailer

FIGURE 20 The CooP Bicycle Ambulance is build in Kisumu

Bicycle Materials Bamboo trailer A DIY design for a lightweight, easy to manufacture trailer, that can use bamboo and does not need welding or tube bending [11]. The concept was adopted by many people all around the world, with smaller or bigger adjustments and customizations on each piece.

The material availability is a crucial factor that can greatly influence our design. Different materials have different mechanical properties, which limits their use and manipulation options. In our research, we have identified three main categories of materials: metals, woods and organics and plastics and polymers.

These are the list of the suitable materials: This list is involved the available materials and obtaining several suitable candidates.

Metals The most common material, widely available in Africa mainly in one of the three forms: • Recycled steel - derived from other industries • Steel tubes – regular steel production • Stock bicycle parts – cheap quality, imported from China and India [9]

Woods and organics FIGURE 21 The Bamboo trailer

Bambulance Design, that is in some aspect similar to the Bike4Care one above, developed by Canadian Design for Development Society. Bambulance is supposed to be manufactured in Western Kenya, and serve as a Emergency Medical Transportation Device (EMTD).

Resources obtained from trees and plants, that are renewable and widely available. However, due to their nature, they might need special treatment to avoid rotting or water absorption. There are numerous types of organic materials available [9, 13]: • Fabric: woven, varies in quality • Papyrus: available around lake Victoria • Bamboo: in abundance, long production time • Rattan: local production, high strength • Hyacinth: available around lake Victoria, involved in biogas production • Sisal: in abundance, locally grown

Recycle trailer Concept of a small and simple trailer, that is cheap to manufacture and can carry cargo up to 100kg. It was designed by the Re~Cycle organisation, that aims at shipping unwanted second-hand bicycles to Africa.

[10].

Cargo bikes Bicycles, that are designed to carry cargo might present a indirect competition for us, because the amount of cargo one person is able to transport on bike is limited. Hence, if one is able to use such bike FIGURE 22 Sisal to transport enough cargo, there would be no need for a trailer.

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Material selection It was discovered, that apart from steel, there are attempts to use bamboo as material for bicycles. The bicycle bamboosero [14] and the trailer bambulance [15] both use bamboo as the main material, because it is, thanks to its mechanical properties, able to replace steel at much lower price. Currently, bamboo forests in Kenya harbor about 150,000 hectares and the bamboo is used mainly in fencing, water harvesting and cottage industry. Despite it’s advantages, it was discovered that in Africa, bamboo still carries the burden of the “poor man’s material”. African people do not trust bamboo as much as they trust steel, and bamboo products are considered inferior to steel ones. The above mentioned products strive to improve the position of bamboo and prove, that it is comparable to steel. A intiative from the Columbia University aiming for bamboo bicycle manufacturing in East Africa quote that:

FIGURE 23 The production of Sisal

Plastic and polymers These materials change viscosity with variation in temperature; therefore, they are easy to mold into a given shape. There are several benefits of polymers: They are good insulators; they are resistant to chemicals and water; they have a smooth surface finish. There are several drawbacks to polymers, however: They are low in strength; they deteriorate in ultraviolet light; and they have excessive creep at all temperatures.

• Rubber: in abundance, available at low prices • Recycled plastic: low quality, heavy [9]

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African Bicycle Trailer

“Bamboo in Kenya is already being harvested and used to make a number of specialty crafts items ranging from tables and chairs to kitchenware, and is also burned in the form of bamboo charcoal. Contacts at the African Bamboo Center in Kisumu say that this industry could likely supply enough bamboo to support a bamboo bike factory in the very near future” However, still most common production material for bicycles and bicycle trailers is steel, mostly harvested from scrap through other industries, such as machinery from the cotton industry. Steel is also popular because of its easy reparability and availability of metal workshops, even though the need for these features is based on the poor quality of the steel bicycles and steel in general. (though this habit comes from the poor quality and heavy maintenance cost of the steel bicycles in Kenya in general [16]. Hence, there is a great need to deliver high-quality load bearing bicycles and carrying options. )

The 4P’s Other concerns that arise are bicycle parts, made of cheap metal, as quality parts import is scarce and parts quality harbour the same faith then imported bicycle, which is expensive through taxes that provide a consume once mentality that is expensive to bicycle ownership [16].

Material availability The selected material must be available at a reasonable cost in Kenya.

Product The product that we are producing should aid the Kenyan’s to gain a business advantage towards their current situation; hence the product aids them to have a better lifestyle. To provide these goals we are concentrating on the overall production cost, as well local production ability as various other options are already on the market, however do not cater to the specific needs of the user. Therefore, customizability is a key design of the bicycle trailer.

Price The properties of materials can be focused into two categories: mechanical and fabrication. Mechanical properties include fatigue, strength, wear, hardness, and plasticity. Especially, water permeability should be included in the research against rainy season in Kenya.

Available Production Techniques The bicycle infrastructure in Kenya is gaining on popularity, however specific data could not be found to the current status, but only gleaned from earlier reports from the mid 1990’s. These reports mention small workshops are present in the highest populated regions such as Nairobi and Mombasa that occupy themselves with mending machinery, including bicycles [17].

Specifically these workshops usually occupy a machine for cutting, and or bending, which are mostly refitted hacksaws or portable sanding machines.

As mentioned before, price of the overall product plays a major role as the product is catered to the Kenyan low-income market. However, we acknowledge that new materials or new designs have a low acceptability therefore a higher price might be a good strategy for acceptability.

Place The place of the product plays a major economical role – local, as purchase power in Kenya is very low, import from other countries are low quality.

Promotion The product is locally produced, so there is already an amount of recognition in the market that will produce word of mouth promotion. Moreover, through the features of easy design iterations the product will become very popular as no similar product is on the market.

Material production exists such as rattan, bamboo, rubber or fabric production and usually exists in Conclusions the same areas as the workshops. However, these alternative materials are wide spread through the In this section, we have analyzed the market and villages as it’s used in agriculture production. the available materials. Information gathered during this research will be very helpful or both design and business strategy creation, since they gave us insight to the situation in Kenya and East Africa.

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Part IV | Business This part focuses on generation of the business strategy for sustainable market penetration and manufacturing of our trailer. In this moment, there are two parts described in this report - business model generation and target group role models.

As a part of the research phase, we have also held a brainstorming session concerning the possible business model and their components. As guidance, we have used the Business Model Generation chart.

With regard to the most important categories, we have identified following properties.

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African Bicycle Trailer

27 In what form it could be sold: 27 Potential Customer 28 Financing

In what form it could Potential Customer Farmer be sold: DIY box IKEA style distribution, where all the parts are supplied together with instructions and assembly manual. One modification of this model would be the case, when some parts would be replaceable with some available scrap material (e.g. old bicycle frame etc.)

Basic platform + extensions A basic platform would be supplied, with extension points and general interface. There are two variants that could exist together. Extension modules are prefabricated and sold separately. Each customer creates his own modules.

Whole trailer The simplest model, where the whole trailer would be sold as one piece

Chege is a farmer living near Kisumu. He owns a hectare of land where he grows various crops.

Recently married he is proud of his growing sweet potatoes and maize that he sells in the downtown of Kisumu. Later, being ambitious Chege wants to go into exporting his crops to Europe though he has to specialize into tea and has to buy more land. Chege, to expand needs to make more money, however his bicycle only transfers so much every day to the market downtown, which is 10 KM down a harsh single track road. The road is also very muddy in wet season and leaves him to mostly push his bicycle to the market at the time. He is happy with his Bicycle, as it is high quality, hardly breaking down and has strong tries. However, he wishes for an alternative means of transportation - or best, if Chege says if he would have a trailer that adds double the capacity of his trip then he could sell double and safe enough money to support his venture.

FIGURE 22 A Kenyan Farmer: manual labor is daily routine

Teacher Barongo is a teacher and lives outside of Kisumu, mostly because it is cheaper and saver then in the city for her. She has two young children, which she sometimes takes along while traveling on her bike.

She is bright and teaches several classes around the area, leaving her travel every day between locations.

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Financing Her children, twins, who attend one of her, class every day ride with her on the back of her bicycle.

Barongo has to bring material for the class, and her children have to carry the material as well sit on the bike. The paths are not very comfortable and they have gotten used to balancing comfort and carrying.

However, Barngo wishes she could have a bicycle trailer where she could keep her teaching material as well one of her child can sit in making her travel trips easier.

Taxi driver Chilemba is a professional taxi driver, living in the city transporting one person at the time to one place to the other. His bicycle is narrow and so he is fast getting between or through traffic jams or difficult situation quickly. He wishes he could provide a more comfortable ride to the customer, such as a luggage compartment where he could pick up customers at the airport.

Sell Selling the trailer to the customer

Full price Paying at once

Microcredit Using already established system of microcredit providers for local entrepreneurs

Rent Short or long term rental

Long term A cheaper alternative to microcredit – possibility to purchase the trailer later for lower price

Short term Renting the trailer just for a short period of time

Advertising Providing discount when there would be an advertisement on the trailer We will combine these ideas with the customer profiles described in section to create the ideal combination of target group and appropriate business plan.

FIGURE 23 A Boda-Boda taxi driver in Kenya

28

Fisherman

Conclusions

Atieno had a hard time, starting with selling spare tires for motor vehicles he soon went into the fisherman business. Taught by a fisherman he soon could afford his own boat, making a daily profit of 1000 KSH to 3000 KSH. He has two children and is married. He would love to have more opportunity to expand, especially in transporting his catch to the market.

In the final report, this part will describe the whole process of creating a business strategy. In this phase of the project, we have focused on the context research; hence the implementation part will be created together with the design phase.

African Bicycle Trailer

Part V | Product In this chapter we discuss our product goals, and approach of how the product is prototyped and eventually produced.The chapter continues into detail of whom this product will benefit and what needs are provided.Then an overall understanding of the life cycle of the product is lain out and why particular features where found to be useful in the prototyping stage.

The section is concluded with the start of the conceptual process of the product process.

30 Product Goal 30 Product Leadership 31 Design Planning 32 Functions - Customer Needs - Task Specifications

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Product goal

Product Leadership

Our challenge is to create a new trailer that turns into profit and benefits society in some way. By this obvious purpose, a bicycle trailer should create individual/local entrepreneurship. Moreover, it would be the first step to help them being financially selfsupporting by the project for trailers like workshop.

The project goals can be presented as followed:

In a market research we notice several brand names for bicycle trailers and the differences among them, such as shape, material used, cost, or special features.

The client wants to provide users with multi-purpose bicycle trailers, and user asks for a modification of an existing artifact to make it simpler, cheaper and easy to use.

“Creating the entrepreneurship of the local people in Kenya�

Generation of a new product: In all profit-oriented industries the attention and abilities of management, engineering production, inspection, advertising marketing, sales, and servicing are focused on causing the product to return profit for the company and, in turn, for company stockholders. For a project itself to have an ability for self-sustaining growth in Kenya, it must continue to grow; if the new bicycle trailer has a special characteristic life cycle pattern in sales volume and profit margins in Kenya, as shown in below figure (Basic life cycle of new product), user will makes an effort for the additional profit required to sustain growth as a main participant in their industry.

Adaptive design for self-supportive: Providing the knowledge of trailers, which demands no special knowledge or skill, and local users easily can fix the trailers with ordinary technical training from the workshop or a manual book.

FIGURE 24 Life cycle of a new bicycle trailer

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African Bicycle Trailer

Design Planning The product design process and planning for the African bicycle trailer plays a vital role of the end product. The process incorporates the context that was found in the earlier process and was chosen

Design planning

on the criteria that it is translatable to the Kenyan product design environment. The process especial concentrates on the End of life and cost evaluation of the product life cycle.

Design process for African bicycle trailers Specifications and analysis of product environment

1. Market analysis

2. Specification

Identify essential problems /establish function structures

Technical requirements and specified costs

Determination of special funtion structure Evaluate against technical and economic criteria

3. Functions

Selection of optimum configuration and functions Selection of materials and form designs

4. Form design

Manufacturing specifications and model constructions 5. Embodiment design Mock-up / Usertest Check for errors and cost effectiveness

6. Evaluation

Actual specified functions Actual specified costs

Complete detail drawings and production documents 7. Detail design Documentaion& Final product

8. End of life

FIGURE 25 Design planning

reuse

Waste stream

recycle

FIGURE 26 Design Process for African bicycle trailer 2011 Design Challenge / TU Delft

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Functions The design process of the African Bicycle trailer is considering eight important highlights to have a better potential to come to a better product for the Kenyan user.

A clear function statement enables us to find clear solutions. The functions will be divided into subfunctions, and they will define the requirements of the African bicycle trailer.

In this process the first step is the Market Analysis that provides a context of the current market situation, and buyers environment. This step runs into two Specifications one being Identity that illustrates the users needs and the second the technical requirements of the product. Once these steps are established the Functions will be detailed in three steps, such as special functions that are then evaluated to the economical viability that ends into the last step of optimal configuration and functions.

The Form design step details the materials and form language of the product learned from previous steps. This step will be evaluated through the Embodiment design that specifies manufacturing and model constructions, which provides a first user and mockup of the product.

The Evaluation step checks then the cost effectiveness of the mockup and checks for potential errors that are found in the process. The last step in the product process is the Detail design step that provides efficient documentation and production detailing. The whole process does incorporate an End of Life philosophy where reuse, waste stream and recycle options are always considered starting with the form design throughout the Detail design.

Customer Needs The need for a new bicycle trailer can be generated from several sources, including the following: Client request: “The trailer should fit the context which it is used in. It should therefore be designed from the perspective of the Kenyan user. The trailer should be multifunctional and fit the needs and wishes of the user as good as possible so it can create new possibilities for the user and enhance the quality of their life. The production of the trailer will be located in Kenya, which means that the possibilities and limitation of production in this country should be taken into account. The materials should be sustainable and fit the context in which it is used and produced. The product should be sold for a reasonable price, which is suitable for the target group.The implementation of the product should allow it to become a sustainable project.�

Task specifications This stage requires us to list all pertinent data and parameters that tend to control the design and guide it toward the desired goal; it also sets limits on the acceptable solutions. The selling price should be lower than that in the market. The device should allow combinations of bicycle trailer tasks: Transport, Street vendor Human, water bottles, fish, animals, groceries, beverage, snacks, animals, groceries Material should be selected based on cost, manufacturability, strength, appearance, and ability to withstand varying weather conditions. The bicycle trailers must be reliable and not require frequent maintenance.

The bicycle trailers should consider sustainable elements. The bicycle trailers should be easily stored in house against burglars. It should be easy to operate and fix by Users.

Several types of power can be considered for support:

FIGURE 28 Design Process for African bicycle trailer

Recycling battery from cars Kenyans use only 50 percent of their car batteries, providing a vast opportunity for reuse. Kenyan’s use the batteries in homes for powering appliances; their mobile phone or more importantly light.

Recycling battery from cars Kenyans use only 50 percent of their car batteries, providing a vast opportunity for reuse. Kenyan’s use the batteries in homes for powering appliances; their mobile phone or more importantly light.

Conclusions The product process is an important step to further the process of understanding the features and function of the product itself and which benefits are taken from its existence in the market. The product process illustrates an approach that was selected to potentially fit in the Kenyan product life cycle. The FIGURE 27 Design Process for African bicycle trailer product lifecycle incorporates the specific features already found in the daily use of current iterations of the product on the Kenyan market. The current process will be further explored with the conceptualization Solar power Solar power is slowly starting to become a reality phase of the potential new products and ideas that in Kenya. Various startups of solar productions in will be prototyped in the later stage.

Nairobi provide solar feasibility to rural areas

Conclusion and next steps As this mid-term report shows, in the first part of the course we have concentrated mainly on the project context. Through extensive research using the internet, articles and experience of people that had been to East Africa, we tried to get great insight into the situation in Kenya, the life and needs of people there and opportunities and limitations for our product. However, there is still a lot of work to do. We are aware, that there are still gaps in our knowledge, that we will try to fill in, preferably by using the experience of native Kenyans.

All the information gathered will be exploited in the next two phases of the challenge. During the first one, we will create a design of the bicycle trailer, that would fulfill the needs of our target group and our vision. In the second phase, a business strategy will be created, that would propose a sustainable market penetration and distribution strategy in Kenya, respectively East Africa.

References [1] Cross, N. Engineering Design Methods: Strategies for product Design. New york: Wiley, 1994 [2] Dym, C. L. Engineering Design: A Synthesis of Views. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

[3] www.geert-hofstede.com [4] Heyen-Perschon, J., Non-Motorised Transport and its socio-economic impact on poor households in Africa, Hamburg, 2001 [5] Kisamaddu, R.,Improving the Image of Bicycles and Bicycle Use In Uganda, 2003 [6] Howe, J., Bryceson, D., Poverty And Urban Transport In East Africa: Review Of Research And Dutch Donor Experience, 2000 [7] http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.VEH. NVEH.P3 [8] http://www.squidoo.com/matatu [9] African Bicycle Design, Process Report Bicycle Project Kisumu, 2010 [10] http://www.re-cycle.org/trailer/ [11] http://carryfreedom.com/bamboo.html [12] http://practicalaction.org/docs/technical_ information_service/bicycle_trailers.pdf [13] Kigomo, N.B., An Overview of Bamboo and Rattan Sector in Kenya, Kenya Forestry Research Institute [14] http://www.bamboosero.com/ [15] http://plippo.com/client/bambulance/home.html [16] Freedman, P., Big Boda Load-Carrying Bicycle Trial Market in Kisumu, Kenya. Worldbike. pp. 11-12 [17] http://www.mobility-consultant.com/literat/ bike_supply_kenya.htm