Financing boda bodas

Today i got a call. Actually a 'deflected call' I call it deflated call bacause the caller reached my colleague who then bounced the call off to me. The reason for the call, could Speed Capital consider entering into an agreement with Ryce Motors to finance people buying motor bikes..

Made me think...why not!

Give me a ride, any day

Boda bodas are a fairly recent phenomenon in Nairobi, even Kenya but very popular. They ferry people across small distances which they would ordinarily cover on foot. A typical boda ride is from the bus stop to the house in the estate. They provide a convenient and reliable way to cover in 2 minutes, a distance you would in 20 minutes. Ladies love them for helping them maitain their airbrushed looks from the house to the office in the morning (who wants to get to work with dusty shoes!).  Boda boda is even listed on wikipedia

Secure

In addition, to the convenience, its safer to ride on the boda in the early evening than take a walk. You avoid the kawaida magging incidents. In the village, people can stay late at the shopping centres as they can hike a ride home.  

Because of their popularity, Boda bodas are now a site in every part of the country, even in the rural areas. Owning a boda boda is now considered a fallback for all blokes who do not make it to progress in education, or who progress and fail to get white colar jobs. One only needs to join the growing number of boda riders nearest to them. The machines have increased so much that even government has been forced to seperate the registration numbers of motor bikes from that of motor vehicles.

I would would want to see statistics of the number of people who now eke a living out of boda riding.

The Motor boda boda menace

Bodas are not without their faults. They have become the item of ire for motorists. The contempt between motorists and cyclists is palpable..there are myrid reasons for this..(1) The cyclists are hardly ever trained and therefore make very irrational moves on the road, causing many accidents. Am told the statistics show majority of those recovering from fractures are boda cyclists. (2) Borrowing from the matatu culture, the cyclists are largely uncouth and congragate to embarass motorists...

To do or not to do!

With all these pros and cons, my take as a potential microfinancier will be based on these three parameters;

1. Is this likely to have a social impact? - Answer: YESS
2. Are these people going to be able to generate revenues to pay off the micro-loans?. Answer: YESS
3. is there a fallback position in the event they do not pull off (2) above? - Answer: YES

My colleagues have agreed that this is probably an exciting and worthwhile new channel for us. With this, we start financing motor bikes from today, through Speed boda boda loan.  This is a product whose progress and uptake I will track and share on this blog in days to come...