A Bamboo Bicycle now that’s different and a good way to create jobs

California-based Calfee Design has been manufacturing and selling its own bamboo bikes from its California studios since 2005, but a trip to Africa inspired founder Craig Calfee to promote the concept in Africa.

“I’d been going to Africa for years since the early ’80s, and what people really want and need over there is jobs, it’s not handouts,” – Calfee.

In 2008, through an initiative called Bamboosero, Calfee set up two bike-building groups in Ghana—one in the capital, Accra, and one in Abompe. Both groups now build frames for several bike designs using locally sourced bamboo; they then ship those frames back to Calfee’s shop, where the US team adds wheels and hardware before sending them on to distributors.