Business brisk at Katutura bicycle shop

By: TANJA BAUSE

THE bicycle workshop at the Family of Hope Services in the Hakahana Informal Settlement has been doing well since its establishment in 2008.

The workshop sells second-hand bicycles and spare parts. Bicycles are becoming an increasingly popular mode of transport in Katutura, with workers using them more to cycle to work and back.
The workshop was started by the Bicycling Empowerment Network Namibia (BEN).
Jacobina Ngolo has been working at the workshop for a year. She promotes and advertises the shop and its services in the community.
She is also the salesperson and does minor repairs to the bicycles. She and the bicycle mechanic sell second-hand bicycles to the community and repair and service broken ones.
“We get a lot of people from the community whom we help with patching the tyres and repairing their bikes,” said Ngolo.
“We also get a lot of customers from all over Katutura who buy their bikes from us. Our bikes are cheap and good – strong solid bikes perfect for the conditions in informal settlements.”
From the money she earns at the bicycle shop she supports herself and her three children. “My eldest is in school and I pay school fees, buy clothes and feed them from my income,” said Ngolo.

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