GROWTH CYCLE
ZAMBIA

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In 1995 high-end bicycle designer Craig Calfee made his first bamboo bicycle frame - and then spent 10 years improving the process to make the canes strong and durable. Calfee then began working with small workshops in the Zambia and three African countries with the aim of creating profitable small businesses. Bamboo grows fast in all these places. ensuring a ready supply of the construction material.

The bikes sell locally, but entrepreneurs particularly love the idea of exporting their products to Europe and the USA, where there is a market for the increasingly high-quality and unique frames. But don't expect them to be in the Tour de France anytime soon.