The female entrepreneur behind Ghana’s first electric bike – transforming transportation and cutting carbon emissions

Delivery drivers on their Wahu! bikes – courtesy of Valerie Labi-Wahu Mobility

Valerie Labi is a Ghanaian-British entrepreneur who has designed an electric bike that’s transforming short-range transportation in Ghana.

Her company, Wahu!, assembles each bike by hand, and they can travel up to 80 miles on a single charge. This means that a delivery rider for Glovo or Bolt can comfortably cover a whole day’s work without refueling.

And now she’s set to revolutionize transportation for all of Africa.

From 100 bikes sold to delivery drivers on a pay-per-week basis, Wahu! has shifted another 200 units, driven down the cost of insurance, and is set in the coming months to unleash Africa’s first native 4-wheeled electric vehicle.

The bikes are sold under an affordable payment plan of around $23 per month for 18-24 months. They cost around $13.5 per month in electricity to charge, a huge drop from the $250 in gasoline that comparative petrol-powered delivery bikes cost.

All this adds up to significant savings for the riders who are plugged into Wahu!’s proprietary riding system through which they can access work immediately through companies like Glovo and Bolt.

“The average age of a vehicle in Ghana is 14 years,” Labi, of Ghanaian origin but brought up in England, told the UK’s Guardian. “We know there are going to be a lot of Amazon-type businesses needing last-mile mobility – do we really want them to be 14-year-old petrol vehicles?”

Wahu!’s bikes were designed with Africa in mind, and the earliest models are still running well. Additionally, GPS tracking of the bikes has meant that of the 300 units sold and running in Ghana, only one has been stolen—and was quickly located.

Valerie and Wahu! have just closed a funding round in which they received $8 million in capital to expand production at their plant on Spintex Road, Accra. In the coming months, they plan to launch a four-wheeled vehicle, as well as open new locations in Lusaka, Zambia, and Lagos, Nigeria.

This story is from the Good News Network.  Read their earlier article about Valerie Labi and how she started here.