African Startup: African Public Bicycles
JEFFREY MULAUDZI, FOUNDER, AFRICAN PUBLIC BICYCLES: Hi, my name is Jeffrey Mulaudzi, the founder of African Public Bicycles in Johannesburg, South Africa. Come, let me show you around.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Based in Alexadra (ph), one of Johannesburg's poorest townships, Mulaudzi started a unique tourism business.</s>MULAUDZI: I do bicycle tours. It do bicycle rental. That's what I do. Around the township of Alexandra (ph) this tour is about introducing to the township life. You get to experience the life, the lifestyle which is the culture, the history of the township. But it's more interacting with community of the township. Welcome to Alexandra (ph). Let me show you the township -- the oldest township in Johannesburg. Today, you are not going to be a tourist in the township, so feel free and enjoy yourself. let's go.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming from Alexandra (ph) himself, Mulaudzi started his business when there was a large number of tourists visit South Africa.</s>MULAUDZI: Well, at the World Cup we had (inaudible) quite a lot of tourism going through within Johannesburg. So, I really (inaudible) because I saw an opportunities. People were very interesting in going into Alexadra (ph), but they did not have a chance of going there. So for me to (inaudible) I think it's quite easy to bring people to Alexandra (ph). With my mother -- I asked my mother if we can take a loan. We took a loan. We bought seven bicycles in total. With good conditions, I started to have two people, three people coming through the tour. And I had fliers with the money that I've been getting, we started to print out fliers.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Business has steadily grown since then. And now Mulaudzi regularly takes out around seven clients a week.</s>MULAUDZI: What I like about what I do is that I meet different people. I love what I do.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But Mulaudzi has had to overcome some obstacles.</s>MULAUDZI: My problems, of course, capital is one of them. One of them was definitely to get customers, to get (inaudible). And being young as an entrepreneur was a challenge, because people might not be used to it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Africa Public Bicycle was recently listed as one of the best activities to do in Johannesburg on TripAdvisor.</s>MULAUDZI: I'm quite proud of being one of the top activities in Johannesburg. When I do group (inaudible), everything follows, everything follows with (inaudible).