Teach a Child to Ride A Bicycle – Transform a Life, Ethiopia

How Can a Bicycle Change a Child’s Life?

“I never believed I could ride a bike… but now I think there are many things I can do.”

“We never had the chance to play and make memories with friends like this, now we talk about cycling, and our friendship is stronger.”

These are the powerful words of young students who recently completed our cycling training at Egre Menged Impact (EMi) — and they demonstrate just how transformative a bicycle can be for children who have had so few opportunities to feel empowered, confident, and free.

Hi, I’m Maren, co-founder of EMi, an initiative based in Addis Ababa that promotes inclusive mobility, climate action, and social empowerment — all through the simple yet powerful tool of the bicycle.

Recently, we completed two incredibly successful bicycle training cohorts for students from two government primary schools.

These students come from low-income communities where basic needs like clean water, meals, or clothing are not always guaranteed. But every afternoon, they showed up; tired, hungry, but determined. Over just two weeks, 50 students didn’t just learn to ride. They learned to believe in themselves.

We aim to visit four more schools by the end of this year!

Our Why

We believe that teaching cycling is about much more than learning to balance on two wheels; it’s about shifting norms, building confidence, and creating a culture where women and children know they are just as capable as anyone else.

Being able to cycle helps them reach school or work more easily in the future.

During our sessions, girls and young women had the opportunity to express themselves, navigate their fears, and overcome real-life challenges. And for many of the boys, it was their first time seeing girls confidently riding beside them, which sparked new levels of mutual respect and understanding.

This is how empowerment begins — with motion, with visibility, with joy.

With your help, we can continue making these life-changing opportunities available to more children.

What your donation will support:

1. We want to purchase 10 children's bicycles locally. The brand 'Creeper' is a locally available, robust option. One bicycle costs approximately 18,000 ETB (approximately 114 Euros).

2. For our new bicycles, we require 10 helmets, which we plan to import for their superior quality. At Decathlon, one helmet costs approximately 30 Euros.

3. Maintenance tools and spare parts are calculated at a lump sum of 30,000 ETB (approximately 200 Euros).

4. Transportation of bicycles is, unfortunately, a high cost, with one school (round trip) incurring around 5,000 ETB (approximately 30 Euros).

Additional funding goes into:

5. We obviously want to compensate our ambitious young trainers.

6. Secure and appropriate storage of the bicycles.

Our goal: 3,000 Euros to run the following four cohorts of children's bicycle training cycle in 2025!

For more information about our work, follow us on all social media pages at @egremengedimpact.

Thank you for believing in these young riders and helping us keep the wheels turning!

With gratitude,

Maren & the EMi Team