The people we serve are the reason we started. They are also the reason we cannot stop. The last few years have tested us. They have also reminded us why we started.

The last three years have been some of the most difficult I have experienced since we started Mozambikes, and I have felt that pressure very personally. The environment around us has changed significantly. The private sector is investing less in social responsibility programmes, traditional donors have become more cautious, and securing grants, financing, and other forms of funding has become increasingly difficult. For an organisation like ours, which depends on partnerships to take bicycles to communities that cannot afford them, this has a direct impact on how much we can do.

We have had to work harder to keep the factory running, protect our team, find new opportunities and continue supporting rural communities despite having fewer resources available to us. There have been difficult moments, and there is no point pretending otherwise. But after more than 16 years of building Mozambikes, I know one thing very clearly: difficult circumstances cannot make us lose sight of why we started.

I continue to believe deeply in what we are doing and, perhaps more importantly, in the people we are doing it for. The circumstances may have changed, the funding environment may be harder and the road ahead may be more challenging, but our commitment to rural Mozambique has not changed. We have come too far, and we have seen too much impact, to stop now.

When I travel into rural communities, the challenges become very real. I see children walking long distances to school, families living far from essential services, farmers trying to reach markets and communities where transport is limited and roads can be extremely difficult. But what stays with me is not only the difficulty. It is the determination of the people themselves. They continue to work, study, farm, raise their families and build their futures, often with very little. They are the real heroes of this story.

Our role at Mozambikes is to support that resilience by helping remove some of the barriers that make everyday life harder. A bicycle cannot change everything, but it can change a life. It can help a child reach school, allow a farmer to carry more to market, help a health worker reach a patient or give someone the opportunity to create a livelihood. Over the years, I have seen again and again how something so simple can open up possibilities that were previously out of reach.

More than 75,000 bicycles have now reached communities across Mozambique. I am incredibly proud of what our team, partners and supporters have built together, but I also know that this is only part of the journey. Our ambition is to reach 150,000 bicycles over the next three years, reaching many more people in the rural communities that continue to face some of the greatest barriers to mobility.

These are difficult times, but they are not a reason for us to think smaller. They are a reason to stay focused, to be creative, to build new partnerships and to keep finding ways to reach the people who need mobility most. I believe in our team, I believe in what we have built and, above all, I believe in the resilience and potential of the communities we serve.

We know the road ahead will not be easy. But we also know where we want to go, and we intend to keep moving.

I invite you to join us on that journey. Donate to Mozambikes, share our story with your network, introduce us to someone who can help, or simply help us get the word out. Every contribution helps us put another bicycle on the road and another opportunity within reach of a rural community.

In rural Mozambique, a bicycle is a lot more than a transport. It is a tool for education, work, survival and opportunity.

I invite you all to join Mozambikes and help us put more bicycles where they are needed most.

Rui Mesquita

Co-Founder & Managing Director, Mozambikes