Africa is the most road-dependent region globally, with many countries relying almost entirely on roads for transportation. For 1.1 billion people across the continent, public transport or walking is the primary way to move around. In rural and peri-urban areas, the situation is even more challenging. People often bear the burden of carrying heavy loads of firewood, water, or essential goods over long distances, navigating dusty, narrow roads on foot. This daily struggle makes accessing markets, schools, and healthcare difficult and slows the pace of life, limiting opportunities for growth and progress in communities facing these transportation challenges.
For women, who are often the backbone of rural economies, this lack of transportation magnifies their challenges. Limited mobility equals fewer opportunities to generate income, access education, or even get critical medical attention. Pregnant women in remote villages are unable to reach a clinic in time because no vehicle is available. Small-scale farmers watch their produce rot because they cannot transport it to the nearest market. Having witnessed this while living in rural communities, Shantha Bloemen founded Mobility for Africa – a startup that gives rural women a new way to travel via solar-powered electric trucks.
As the founder and Managing Director of Mobility for Africa, Bloemen is changing how rural communities, particularly women, move. Her organisation, headquartered in Zimbabwe, distributes solar-powered electric tricycles explicitly designed for rural areas to help women in these communities move quickly.
These electric tricycles, known as ‘Hamba,’ are built to be tough, sturdy and powered by renewable energy. Charged using grid energy within local communities, the Hamba tricycles are designed to meet the needs of small-scale farmers, traders, and women in underserved areas. With a capacity to carry up to 400 kg of goods or passengers, the tricycles have 12-inch wheels that allow them to navigate rough, off-road terrains, making them ideal for the challenging road conditions often found in rural regions.
The organisation works with a network of local and international engineers, designers, and development experts to refine the electric tricycles so they are affordable and durable. The vehicles are then leased to women and farmers through community cooperatives, allowing them to pay for them in small, manageable instalments.
Since 2018, Mobility for Africa’s transport solution has given women who once carried their livelihoods on their backs a means to transport their goods to markets, reach healthcare facilities, and ensure their children get to school safely and on time.
“Not only has the Hamba made my nursing work easier, it has improved the well-being of the community by providing them transport to the clinic and helping deliver firewood for cooking purposes for patients.” – The Head Nurse at Igava Health Centre.
Now, farmers can transport more goods, reach new markets, and improve their income. Pregnant women and the elderly no longer have to travel hours-long to the hospital on foot. Schools are seeing better attendance rates, as children can be transported easily.
The organisation has set up Hamba Projects to cater to different community segments. These projects include the Hambas for Rural Women, Hambas for Health, Hambas for Conservation, Hambas for Green Skilling, Women, Power & Mobility Art, and the E-mobility Research & Education Hamba project. So far, Mobility for Africa has raised $2 million in seed capital.
The innovative founder, who first started her work in development in a rural Zambian community, has spent the last two decades working in international humanitarian and development assistance. Shantha Bloemen previously worked as a communications consultant for UNICEF, actively driving media attention to child rights, global health, and poverty in Africa and Asia. She has also worked as a producer in advertising, news, and independent film when she was based in New York.
Shantha Bloemen has a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and an honours degree in History from the University of Western Australia. Her award-winning film (documentary) T-shirt Travels tells the story of secondhand clothes and third-world debt. It was aired on PBS in the US in 2001 and was widely used to teach in schools and universities.
