Riders is an award-winning social enterprise. It is an international non-governmental organisation born out of the world of motorcycle racing. Riders’ vision is of a world in which health care reaches everyone, everywhere. To achieve this, Riders manages and maintains vehicles for health-focused partners in sub-Saharan Africa.

 

Using an innovative social enterprise model, Riders has developed a practical approach which is helping to achieve real and sustainable development – the reliable preventive maintenance systems for two- and four-wheeled vehicles used in health care delivery, allowing health workers to reach rural villages regularly.

 

Riders currently operates in seven African countries which are the Gambia, Zambia, Lesotho, Kenya Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Malawi where Riders works with ministries of health,  NGOs and local humanitarian organisations. All programmes are managed by country nationals, building local capacity and helping to ensure that skills are developed and retained in-country.

 

Riders is the official charity of MotoGP™ and motorcycle sport's ruling body, the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The quality and innovation that Riders brings to its programmes in the field has been recognised globally. Riders is ranked the fifth most effective health organisation in The Global Journal’s Top 100 NGOs of 2013. In 2012 Riders was awarded the Best Transport Achievement Award at the Fleet Forum in recognition of its award-winning programme in the Gambia, making it the first country in Africa to secure reliable access to primary health care for its rural population.

 

Riders at a glance

• Operates in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa; the Gambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Kenya, Lesotho, Zambia and Malawi
• Nationwide programmes in the Gambia and Lesotho ensuring that each country has enough vehicles to deliver health care to its entire population
• Employs over 300 local people.
• Manages over 1,400 vehicles – motorcycles, four-wheeled trekking vehicles and ambulances
• Operates two specialist training centres: the International Academy of Vehicle Management (IAVM) in Harare, Zimbabwe and the IAVM2 in Kisumu, Kenya
• Reaches over 12 million men, women and children across Africa with health care
• In one year, Riders’ sample couriers collect and deliver over 600,000 patient medical samples and test results between health centres and laboratories. With a quicker diagnosis, patients can be put on the right course of treatment much earlier