Building the Wheels of Africa

Now this might seem like a shameless ploy to post a huge amount of content but the quality of the discussions surrounding the formation of Wheels of Africa has been really inspiring and I think it gives my foreign readers a feel for some Kenyan-brewed thinking on cycling culture. The following will be extracted from some of the recent e-mail discussions.

As background, these e-mails are following WoA's first event: tree-planting at Kiambu Hospital. 53 cyclists (including six para-cyclists) showed up and wow, we were a force to be reckoned with. Those trees were in the ground before the Calvin Cycle (that's biology) could make one turn.

So, to begin with is Prisca's thanks to all the participants.

Prisca says (actually I can't tell if this is written by Prisca or Raymond despite the signature):

Hi All.

I would like to sincerely thank you all for the enthusiastic turn out for the Eco-challenge on December 12th 2008.

Jeff and Martin: For massing up the troops and bringing them out in large numbers. Thank you Steve for traveling all the way from Nakuru to come and be with us.

ZacK: You get a special mention for disregarding your injuries to come and be part of the team. IC3 and Kenya Para-cyclists: I'm encouraged that you guys have grasped the concept of what "Wheels of Africa" is all about so early in the game and for being part of the team. As the Swahili saying goes, umoja ni nguvu. Cheers guys for you were the first to arrived at the agreed venue and on time. If we hope to advocate for and raise the profile of cycling in Kenya, we have to all come together and show our numerical strength.

Owino(Kaduor) and Stevo Small(Lemash's): The future of WACS is in your hands and I wish to see more of you in all our future events. I was very encouraged by Small's role in escorting Lilian and Nick on our way back. That was awsome young man. Andrew and Stevo Big(Jack's): you played a huge role in escorting some of our members from Kenya para-cycling,

Lilian and Sandy you are our newest members and showed great resolve in venturing out into open roads and enduring the long great distance.
Njoki: For being there and finally taking up the challenge of learning to ride a bike.

Mose: The Maasai clad was a fantastic touch. You showed how we should not take ourselves so seriously to the extent of forgetting that above all else, riding is a fun activity.

Odour: For believing and encouraging his young sibbling to ride along
All those who played the mobile mechs and all those who took time away from their profitable ventures to come and be with us.

I am above all encouraged that this was our first group event and the turn out was impressive - 53!. With the same support and spirit and see most if not all our goals being attained and in a shorter time than earlier envisaged!

Ahsanteni Sana,

Raymond
For: Wheels of Africa


Following this a back and forth discussion on the topic of structuring and managing WoA.

Raymond starts:
Hello guys!
Events of the lst two weeks have been fast and furious! Expectations are suddenly high and most of us are beginning to wonder what we got ourselves into. There was a call for visioning last week. I deliberately stalled on it because:

Vision and mission should first be articulated by the originators and/or can then be amended by any subsequent committee that may be tasked to do the same
The criteria of choosing a think tank tank to carry out such tasks has not been put in place in which case those who may have gone ahead and carried out the tasks risk being perceived as snobs who think they know better than the rest.

On Thursday, we had a rather test text exchange with Pri on LEADERSHIP vs MANAGEMENT. This is where I wish to begin my present argument, which is: Pri and I started off the premise that we were to try get together a group of cyclists that would (probably annually) cycle for worthy cause which in our case was the Children's Cancer Ward in Kenyatta National Hospital. Lawrence (whose contacts I got from the father, who had originally mentioned the idea to), put us through to Odour who in turn put us through to the group at Jack's base which in turn forms the current back-bone of WACC. I have had several individual meetings with several riders to try get the feel of what they may have in mind and how to go about it. The first day that I was invited to Jak's base, I invited Pri and she graciously accepted and finally made it to the meeting despite the many hurdles she had to endure getting there. My insistence on having her come to the meeting and refusal to accompany her was designed to:

Let her experience first hand what she was getting herself into ie who the bedrock of her activities were going to be
what type of people they are.

The who and whats above can be construed to mean many things but to me personally, the who are the vibrant, energetic youths that trying under very difficult circumstances to make meanings of their lives and the bicycle happens to be their tool of choice. The what is that they unemployed and/or in employments that are of meager returns and yet they are extremely intelligent each in their own ways. So, we can talk of the grand plans about Cancer wards or saving the planet through planting trees, but if these things are not at the end of the day, valuable to them, we'll have lost our bedrock/back-bone. Lawrence had lots of misgivings about lots of meetings etc, and I both conquered and disagreed with him. They will be useless if they turn into mere talk shops but useful as a means of fora for feedback and exchange of ideas.

That brings me back to the criteria of choosing think tank. Once we put modalities in place on how to put it in place, I will have no qualms about it making decisions for the rest of the team otherwise we risk being perceived as the know-it-all that live in ivory towers. Still on the theme of who we are, what we aim to achieve and how to go about it, and this is not something that I'd shared with Pri at the start but I think she later figure it out, is the fundamental issue of what the majority of our members are; jobless and/or in poor returns employs. We can't run away from this glaring fact. They will do anything that is asked of the as was evidenced during Eco but it will be extremely unreasonable to expect them to develop a charitable sense at the expense of personal survival.

What this means, is that whatever form or shape that WACC finally takes, our bedrock members will have to directly benefit from being involved in its day to day running! Pri and myself have already run into personal expenses(the last being the payments for the trees in Kiambu which originally had been passed to as being a donation by the community), booking of venues, etc and I personally asked her to hang on in there but realize that we can't afford to be charitable while even multinationals eg Total that have all the money in the world cannot pay for a few trees to help save the environment.

That said, the main objective of WACC as I saw it from day one was to mainstream the bicycle in all its shapes, size, and color. It is through mainstreaming that we will make it into an industry with economic potential and therefore attain our 2nd and 3rd which are empowering our group of core members and the Cancer project. Pri is already working the Cancer angle and we are devising ways of marketing ourselves with a view of raising funds. The task is daunting but I have no doubt in my mind that it is achievable. MAINSTREAMING will involve:

1.Bridging the gap between different types of bike in the country. If we restrict ourselves to sport-bike, we leave out a huge segment of society
2.Bridging the gender gap and imbalance ie give courage to ladies to come on board and that is why I was excited by the participation of Sandy and Lily in the Eco, and the enthusiasm shown by Pri and Njoki to learn how to ride. That is a huge start for me.
3.Give courage to those that have fear fear in taking out their bikes to open roads because of the fear of Matatus and other motorists. Our aim in this area is to sensitize other road users that we too have a right to share these roads which we are taxed for. Towards this end, I thank you Nick for your courage on Saturday.
4.Most young people ride bikes. Somewhere, somehow they lose the passion along the way (one on the people that responded to Gavin's column said she was taught by her dad as young girl to ride and is excited to be part of a group that will bring back that childhood passion). It will be the mandate of WACC to tap into this huge reservoir and harness it.
5.Make cycling economically viable through lobbying govt for tax breaks for parts and accessories so that more people can own them. We will be required to review the measures in place with a view of determining whether the govt has done enough and/or if it can do more.
6.To make it fun through organizing all sorts of custom made events eg there are those that prefer races, there are those that prefer long tours those that prefer short weekend/adventure rides, those that prefer biking as a form of keeping fit etc. A mechanism of collecting and acting on all this info is crucial.

It is for this regard that I suggest we form divisions(or whatever the politically correct phrase will be) so that people within can actively research and formulate standard operating procedures within their divisions and the liaise with the management div.

The others are:

Racing - follow the calendar events within the country & region, identify talent, train WACC riders, select team, participate in races
Adventure and tours - design adventure circuits, select preferred routes for tours, formulate security & safety measures for participants, accommodation etc
Mechanized - these are the mechanics. Theirs is to run their businesses when not in action but will be called upon during action. From Kiambu I already noted the need of a motorized, mechanized sweep team team during long haul events.
Training and certification. In whatever endeavor our members undergo, we will require a monitoring team to make sure we have the requisite training and certification
Administration & Management
Outreach - this has to figure out ways of reaching our goals of netting all those groups mentioned above(and others not mentioned) and how to go about it. People will not join us if they feel threatened or unsure what they are being asked to join.

Those are my ideas and I ask anybody with dissenting views or any other to join the debate and let us get this phase done with by the end of this week.

Rgds,
Raymond


Nick follows by saying:

Hello great people,

I can't agree more with Raymond's observations at the pace in which our "wheels" are moving. and thanks Ray for the wonderful insights on the club's visioning. I'm particularly impressed of the think tank idea. I think a more viable criteria would be to constitute a panel of say (8) from the diverse portfolio within the club membership. This team will provisionally act as representative of the entire group. Their primary role would be to collate all the ideas from the rest of the cyclists on the visioning/direction/shape, wheels ought to assume. The originators would in this forum/brainstorming sessions act as moderators-not too overbearing nor letting go of what they initially had in mind, but endeavor to steer these ideas into the clubs' ultimate vision.

Proposed Action Plan

1.Generate draft Mission Statements, Vision and core activities (first meeting)
2.Present proposals to the rest of the team for approvals (2nd meeting)
3.Finalize on the documentations: Vision,Mission, core values, organizational structure (a prerequisite to assigning of designated roles& accountabilities in sync with the structure; this shall form the bedrock of all our operations in WACC)- I have shared with Pri. my blue print on this... (3rd meeting)
4.A well structured calendar of events "
5.Branded logo for the club "
6.The optimal number of divisions (to be informed by the structure)

These are just my insights on the way forward, and I hope we can have at least some concrete inputs by end of the week.

Unfortunately I will not be in a position to attend the Saturday meeting, because we're traveling upcountry for my brother's funeral. hope i will be well represented. However,let's keep chatting and keep the the Wheels of Africa rolling.....

Cheers
Nick


Raymond responds:

Hi Nic!
Bingo!
When we first started out with Pri, she kept insisting that I get to know her first before entrusting her with Wheels. I disagreed with her my argument was that what I knew of her was enough(at least for the moment). At the time I already knew she was in management consultancy. She later brought you along and the results of which is your clear and concise vision of what we are faced with and how to go about it.

We are running a Sports Organization people! FIA, FIFA, WRC, IUC, IOC, etc are all global brands of Sports Management. The bulk of our members at the moment are in their 20s and 30s and have individual obligations. In order to mainstream Cycling in East Africa we have to tap young potential while keeping the older constantly on the road(for varying reasons eg fitness, environment, commuting, sport etc). This will require a huge managerial input and that is why you(Nic),Pri and other professionals in varying fields make a lot of sense for Wheels.

My background is military and therefore I'm more equipped in LEADERSHIP rather than MANAGEMENT. Management requires that we put structures, rules and regulations in place and find the best way to go about enforcing each and every one of these. Leadership on the other hand, is a way of ensuring that the followers feel they have a stake in adhering to the managerial parameters and/or if these are not in place(as is the case with Wheels presently) then the followers feel part of and parcel of the process of putting these in place. It is a delicate balance but is achievable!

As I have repeatedly said, these is a prototype for me. If it works(as it will) I hope to reproduce it in my country and in the process broaden the reach of the bicycle in East Africa which is our fundamental objective.

Raymond.


Then I chipped in about an hour ago:

Hi folks,
I want to join Nick in thanking Raymond for his concise history of Wheels of Africa. And showering my praise on both him and Prisca for taking such an open approach to an idea that they could have easily claimed and protected as theirs. Wheels has had a rapid rise to imminence indeed and it's a ride that we've all felt some thrill at being part of.

I'll try to keep my inputs brief with the hopes of encouraging others to pop in with their own quick comments.

First, on the topic of setting up management structures, I think that Nick's plan is fine and good but I'll just say again that most people don't want to be part of a formal or complex planning process. They want to have opportunities to speak their mind and then see that their ideas are responded to. There is an important balance between maintaining member involvement and turning people off with too much bureaucracy. Personally, I think that people have spoken their piece and would at this point rather be presented with a first draft of a vision than be approached with yet another appeal for input, focus groups, and panels. This organization isn't so big or old that we risk disenfranchising hidden interest groups or have contentious issues at hand. We can easily pick representative and proactive people and put together a vision for presentation to the larger body. As long as the process is open and feedback is responded to, it's going to be better to maintain our momentum and reputation for action than to worry about planning structures and committees. Remember what Zach said about having dreams and never acting on them. WoA has a good thing going. Let's create a vision and stop worrying about committees.

Second, I think there currently is an important underlying debate going on in people's minds that significantly effects what Wheels of Africa is to become. WoA was originally envisioned and is currently perceived of as a cycling CLUB. However, I've expressed verbally (and continue to rebel via the WoA versus WACC acronym) that WoA could grow to be something different than a club. Zach expressed the same thing on Friday when he said that he sees WoA as a MOVEMENT and not a club.
The root of my thinking derives from the vision of what members (and founders) imagine WoA becoming. The scope of our reach (potentially international), the scope of our programing (advocacy, recreation, politics, racing, etc), and the scope of our intended membership (people are saying thousands) puts WoA far beyond the reach of what I'd consider a club. This scope is what worries me when we discuss some of the current plans for programming and organization.
I think we can all agree that one of the greatest joys that we get out of cycling is that it is so multi-faceted... which is what allows it to be the "lifestyle" that so many of us talk about. The thing with a multi-faceted activity is that is not conducive to centralization. And what worries me currently about WoA is the way that it is beginning to imagine itself as the center of cycling in Nairobi. If we say that our goal is to "mainstream" cycling in Kenya, then I think WoA needs to imagine itself as a FACILITATOR rather than an OWNER of cycling culture. Now, I know that everyone would say that we already envision ourselves as facilitators and not owners; so let me clarify. The fact that WoA is becoming a replacement for Eastlands cycling club is a bad sign, that fact that we're talking about having a racing team is a bad sign, the fact that we want to organize weekly rides in different parts of the city is a bad sign. It starts to make WoA look like it wants to be the biggest baddest club that swallows up other clubs like a company pursuing monopoly. The way I perceive the difference between what WoA should become and shouldn't is by asking the question, Do our activities allow people to celebrate cycling in their own way, at their own pace, at their own comfort level, on a small scale, and with their own style (the strength of cycling culture lies in the opportunities for self-expression), or do they try to create order through rules and central management?
So far, I think we have a perfect record. The tree planting was brilliant. There was almost no structure, there was no pace, the tree-planting was the focus and not bicycles, everyone could participate at any level, and the follow-up letter recognized people for their diverse contributions rather than their "success" as cyclists. The only hitch (and this is a friendly critique from my personal perspective) was the effort to try and "organize" the ride to the site through formation riding. I say this because I've seen it so many times, that nothing kills a cycling event like someone trying to implement their vision on top of what other people are doing (which is what causes problems in Critical Mass all the time). If cycling culture is to grow, it can't be about doing cycling "right" but just doing cycling however anyone wants to do it.
This leads me to my distinction between clubs and movements. Clubs are awesome but clubs tend to be about a small number of people who do cycling in a certain way. They're not all-inclusive, nor should they be. They provide opportunities for like-minded people to do their thing without being pulled in every direction. This is what makes them perfect for racing enthusiasts since fitness levels have to closely match in order to facilitate training. It's also why clubs tend to splinter as soon as they get too big. Clubs are also perfect for local rides since local people have their localness in common and because over-sized, bunched up, groups are just impractical and impersonal (remember us stumbling over each other, blocking traffic climbing that hill towards Kiambu Hospital).
Given these factors my vision for WoA is not to try and be a club, but to be that organization that facilitates cycling culture by hosting fun and high profile EVENTS at which many clubs, ride groups, friends, individuals, cults, mechanics, etc. come together to express their joy for cycling in their own way. This is different from WoA having a racing team and showing up to conquer others at competitive event. And this is different from WoA telling people in Dagoretti Corner when and where they should go for a ride, when in reality they could just call a couple friends and not worry about a whole bunch or centralized coordination. Instead WoA can play the "matchmaker" role. It can be the entity in the background that puts people together in the right environment and then let's the sparks fly rather than being the one trying to brew all the magic. With this sort of hands-off, non-controlling approach, WoA can also acquire the people's backing and the government's recognition as an appropriate spokesperson for cycling as a whole. Topics of concern would be infrastructure, reduced import duties, legal recognition, enforcement of traffic code, transparency in the national cycling federation, etc.
I think WoA could also maintain financial independence by operating bicycle-based enterprises. Thus, not only raising critical cash, but also establishing non-motorized transport as an important economic and transportation sector, putting the unemployed youth to work, and demonstrating our savvy as a competent, talented, and GDP-contributing organization.

Ok, so that wasn't the brief communication that it was supposed to be but I hope it is well received nonetheless.

ride on y'all.

-Andrew