The Power of Bicycles
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FK Day |
TEDxMidAtlantic 2017
• October 2017
Frederick (F.K.) Day is a long time Chicago businessman, entrepreneur and humanitarian. In 1987, Day, his brother Stan and some friends founded leading bicycle component supplier, SRAM Corporation. In 2005, immediately following the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Day and his wife Leah, with support from SRAM Corp and the bicycle industry, founded international non-profit World Bicycle Relief. Their first program delivered over 24,000 new bicycles to men, women and children in Tsunami impacted Sri Lanka.
In his TEDx talk, Day illustrates the profound transformation that takes place when a person whose primary mode of transportation is walking, is provided a bicycle.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, roughly 600 million people live in rural communities where walking is the only option for many. Every day is about racing the sun, from sunup to sundown, trying to complete the day’s work before the darkness of night. Each step is a race to overcome the barrier of distance.
Through his firsthand experience in the field with World Bicycle Relief, Day describes the quantum leap in productivity that occurs when students, healthcare workers and entrepreneurs are mobilized through the power of bicycles. He illuminates why bicycles are an overlooked development solution and why there can be a world where distance is no longer a barrier to education, healthcare and economic empowerment.
World Bicycle Relief employs over 100+ people in the US, Asia and Africa, and operates 5 bicycle assembly facilities in Kenya, Malawi, Angola Zambia and Zimbabwe. To date, over 350,000 specially designed, locally assembled bicycles have been distributed and over 1,700 field mechanics have been trained. In 2010, Day and World Bicycle Relief were named #12 on Barron’s list of the World‘s Top 25 Most Effective Givers. In 2015, Fast Company named World Bicycle Relief among its’ Most Innovative Companies for organizations working on the continent of Africa.