Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana, July 26, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With its fifth distribution of ecologically-friendly, free bamboo bikes in Amasu, in Dormaa Central Municipal District, in Central Ghana's Brong Ahafo Region, today, the African Bicycle Contribution Foundation (ABCF), a U.S.-based 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has now distributed 140 Eco-Ride, Ghanaian-made bikes to transport-dependent students, teachers, small farmers and healthcare workers, in Ghana.
Today's event, attended by more than 400 local residents, students, school officials and community leaders, was highlighted by a welcoming address by Nana Barima Dei Kusi Gyabaah, Ankobeahene of Dormaa Traditional Area; by remarks from the CEO and Founder of Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative (GBBI), which manufactures the bamboo bikes, in Kumasi; and by GBBI Development Officer Solomon Owusu-Amankwaah; by speeches from Mr. Armstrong Asante, (surrogate of Mr. Isaac Nsiah Edwards, Municipal Director of Education); and Mr. Iddrissa Quattara, Municipal Chief Executive, Dormaa Central Municipality.
Previously, since September of last year, ABCF has provided free bicycles, produced by GBBI, in Sekyere Afram Plains District, in the Ashanti Region; in Koforidua; in Kumasi and in Accra.
Today's event, wherein an additional 35 under-resourced, transport-dependent students, small farmers, teachers and healthcare workers received free bamboo bikes made in their own country, was hosted on behalf of African Bicycle Contribution Foundation by its Kumasi-based partners, GBBI and Bright Generation Community Foundation (GBCF).
ABCF plans to distribute a total of 2500 free bamboo bikes, in primarily rural areas of Ghana, over a five-year period.
As part of that overall plan, ABCF has invited Ms. Dapaah to visit the U.S., in Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C., in late September, to participate in a three-city awareness, economic development and fundraising tour, to meet with public- and private-sector leaders, and to make presentations to university business school students and faculty, to entrepreneurial audiences, and to Ghanaian business organizations, in the U.S.
During today's event, in Central Ghana, Ms. Dapaah and Mr. Owusu offered remarks on behalf of ABCF's chairman, A. Bruce Crawley, and its executive director, Patricia Marshall Harris. In their remarks, both GBBI leaders emphasized how the ABCF program has been designed to improve school attendance, punctuality and academic achievement for students, to contribute to greater operating efficiency for rural farmers, and to facilitate higher levels of timely accessibility to those in need, for Ghana's healthcare workers.
Ms. Dapaah and Mr. Owusu also mentioned that an additional benefit of the ABCF program will be a greater demand for GBBI's bicycles, overseas, and a related, expanded effort to create new trade relationships between Accra and Philadelphia, in support of the export of Eco-Ride bicycles to the U.S. Such relationships should lead to increased employment opportunities at GBBI's manufacturing facilities, in Ghana, and to the creation of bicycle assembly jobs, in the U.S.
To date, the ABCF program has been well received by bicycle recipients, and by community and public-sector leaders, in Ghana. In fact, former Ghanaian President John Kufuor, in his current capacity as United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Change, participated in the re-branding announcement of the Eco-Ride bamboo bicycles, and the initial ABCF bike distribution event, in Accra, last year, together with Ms. Dapaah and ABCF Executive Director Patricia Marshall Harris.
Who Is ABCF?
The African Bicycle Contribution Foundation (ABCF) is a 501(c) 3 non-profit corporation whose mission is to generate funding to underwrite the distribution of bicycles to needy students, families and transport-dependent small business owners on the African continent. The Corporation has made a commitment to finance the free distribution of 2,500 bicycles, in Ghana, over its first five years of operation.
ABCF works in partnership, in Ghana, with the Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative, Bright Generation Community Foundation, The Respect Alliance, and the U.S.-Ghana Chamber of Commerce. Included among the foundation's corporate and charitable nonprofit sponsors are Independence Blue Cross and the Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
For further information about ABCF, please contact the ABCF office: info@africanbike.org.
Attachments:
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f46f3f21-a0a6-4b57-8b36-2acd43950e90
Attachments:
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fc82579a-1b72-47f3-a95a-9dcfafcf11ba
Attachments:
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e1c92d79-1980-4c12-8c1d-d39773dd6c45