The Enterprise Box
We have developed a unique bicycle-based small business model, the Enterprise Box, or eBox. Each eBox is a shipping container with 350 bicycles, spare parts and tools. eBoxes are delivered to the CBOs that BEN Namibia works with and run as community bicycle shops. We delivered the first eBox in December 2006 in the village of Okathitu, and there are now a total of 33 established around the country, which you can see on our bicycle shop locator map. eBoxes were formally known as Bicycle Empowerment Centres, which were developed in partnership with Bicycles for Humanity but as the range of goods and services like solar energy products and ICT training diversified among our network, a more encompassing name was chosen.
We have helped implement eBox projects in Zambia, Botswana, Tanzania, and Kenya.
See a short summary of one of our bike shop projects here. See a newspaper article about one of the shops here.