Reflections on Skyping with Muyambi

Muyambi Muyambi (pictured above) Founder of Bicycles Against Poverty

Reflections by the Pencils for Africa Team after a call with

Muyambi Muyambi, Pencils for Africa Executive Board Member

I really enjoyed skyping with Muyambi!

He was so happy and I also loved what he told us at the end of the Skype call:

“Be the best person you can be concerning what you are passionate about.”

This made me think.

I told myself, I don’t know what exactly I am passionate about yet, but I plan to do my best and be the best person I can be. I know that I would like to be like Myuambi and help people.

I really enjoyed skyping with Muyambi! I also loved what he told us at the end of the Skype call, he said:

“Be the best person you can be concerning what you are passionate about.”

I want to create something that helps and benefits people instead of sitting in an office all day. I feel that I am here to do that. I want to be all I can be.

One of my favorite quotes that embodies this is:

“You were given this life because you were strong enough to live it.”

I think we should all do something with our life that we are proud of.

I want to thank Myuambi for skyping and also by talking to us, sharing a little bit of himself.

— Charlotte

Hanging out on Google with Muyambi was a very special experience for me and the PFA team.

Being a leader is an amazing trait that Myambi embodies. Being humble is also something which Myambi portrayed in the way he acknowledges all the people around him that empowers him.

When Muyambi was asked what the qualities he feels he embodies to be a leader - he told us you need to surround yourself with people smarter than you.

That way you learn, are challenged and are open to ideas.

Some of our teaching in PFA resonates with the traits that Muyambi had because of the way he talked about his program, Bicycles Against Poverty. This was so empowering, he spoke about being a leader and surrounding yourself with people who can:

a. Believe in you and have your back.

b. Lead you to the best person you can be.

When Muyambi was asked what the qualities he feels he embodies to be a leader and make change, he told us that he feels you need to surround yourself with people that are smarter than you. That way you will always learn, be challenged and be open to new ideas. Taking the best qualities of your five best friends is something that will always stick with me as well.

Muyambi showed me to go out and be the best person that I can be and I will always try to do that more because of his wise words to all of us at PFA.

— Lucia

At the age of eighteen, Muyambi knew he wanted to start Bicycles Against Poverty to help the people of Uganda. Bicycles Against Poverty lends bicycles to Africans, and over the course of the year, the fee is payed back.

Muyambi lives the spirit of giving a hand up, not a hand out.

Bicycles enable Africans to be economically empowered. From getting to school to transporting their crops to the market, bicycles change these people’s lives for the better.

When asked to give advice to the Pencils for Africa community, Muyambi told us to surround ourselves with people smarter than we are. Your friends should encourage you, and in return, you should encourage them. Finally, Muyambi shared with us that our part in the world is to empower the people of Africa, by being the best person we can be.

Muyambi truly lives out the spirit of giving a hand up, not a hand out.

— Carly

Last Thursday we spoke with Muyambi Muyambi, we first tried to Skype with him and found that our technical connection not strong. Very quickly Ms. Weitzman called Muyambi on the phone and we connected with him on the Google app. “Hangout”

It was exciting to be able to see Muyambi and hear him very clearly. Here in Marin we take it for granted that we will always be able to connect with the world, that everyone has the same technology as we do. It isn’t until we are presented with glitches like this one that we realize we still have a ways to go in connecting with the world outside Marin. It was really exciting to help figure out a default plan to connect with Muyambi, that worked.

Here in Marin we take it for granted that we will always be able to connect with the world, that everyone has the same technology as we do. It was really exciting to help figure out a default plan to connect with Muyambi, that worked.

The bicycles really help everyone in Africa because they can help people get to the market and then they pay it back over time so that they can get even more bicycles.

Muyambi was 18 when he wanted to start helping people around the world after he grew up in Uganda so he knew what it was like to not have transportation and that it would have been much easier if he had a bicycle. Muyambi wanted to start something that would help people and the economy and to help people who needed it the most.

He was trying to target these things mainly to farmers and also the normal people such as kids getting water or people getting to the hospital.

When Muyambi was asked if he had bikes for kids he explained that their target population was not for children, though in Africa, the kids always make use of all the resources around them. The kids would take an adult bike and transform it to be used for kids if they needed to. They don’t have child size bikes because it isn’t really that targeted for children.

One thing I took away from our talk with Muyambi was to always surround yourself with people that are smarter than you. I also liked when he told us to have the confidence to know when your are wrong and to be able to admit that.

Knowledge was a very important trait that he used in creating this business. His knowledge of Uganda he knew how hard it would be for these people without the bikes so he felt challenged to fix the problem. Growing up in a home with 15 brothers and sisters, Muyambi felt he learned pretty good leadership skills in getting his voice heard. Our part in the world is to try and help to make our home a better place than it is now and to do things that you are passionate about.

— Jake

Muyambi was an innovative man and he had an idea to help people in Uganda.

Muyambi told us about how to be a successful leader, and what we can do to change the world.

He had named his own project “Bicycles Against Poverty”. His idea began in college, even when he was still fairly young, he had the ambition and idea to help others out. Muyambi gave us a few guidelines for a successful business and ways to change the world.

One thing that was very important for a good business, was to have people around you. People who can support you and guide you to make your idea succeed.

Muyambi said he had many people helping influence his ideas.

He told us “always to have some smarter then yourself around you”.

Without these people, it’s very possible Bicycles Against Poverty (BAP) would never have been created and would never have the impact it was having today.

Muyambi also told us that you have to think of a smart and flexible idea.

Companies today can only do so much, so we need to make sure our ideas are flexible and open for changing and refining. For example, BAP is planned to be a self sustaining project soon.

Even though we pay for bicycles initially, people will always repay the money allowing them to buy more and repeat the process. Bicycles are also a very inventive idea because they can be useful in so many ways to the people in Africa. Rather then giving them cars or skateboards or something else, we gave something that is both beneficial to them and beneficial to the world. The bicycles help get them exercise, and it allows the kids to get creative in ways of riding it. Not only that but they can also get places much faster then on foot.

The last piece of advice really seemed to stick out to me personally, to be a good person and leader. Muyambi had to be able to have good people skills and had to be smart about how he worked if he wanted anything to go smoothly.

As a leader you must plan ahead and identify clear objectives. You can’t do things as you go, you need to always be thinking three steps ahead. As a good leader you must also be humble, and recognize when you are wrong. Leaders have to be the best person they can possibly be. Muyambi left off by telling us that we have all resources that can change the world.

It was great to meet Muyambi, I feel that he was someone I could relate to and understand. I hope that PFA can make an impact as big as he did.

— Josh

I think Muyambi is a very smart man.

He was very smart to find a way to get bikes for the people who need it.

We are always taught to give to others but Muyambi created an organization that helped many people and has the opportunity to grow and help many more people, not just one person.

I feel that Muyambi is a very giving and caring person and having this trait helped him find his direction in life to give back. I don’t know what my skills are yet but I do feel that I would like to help people. Thank you Muyambi, I hope we keep in touch and talk to you again!

— Cole

Muyambi Muyambi created a company called Bicycles Against Poverty.

This organization has an amazing website all about how you can donate money to help buy a person from a village in Uganda a bike. This bike creates opportunities to people who would have other wise been confined to the village, to be able to get to the markets, school and even hospitals is needed.

The PFA team asked Muyambi questions about his organizations and how he made decisions to become a leader and change the quality of life for those that were less fortunate. He let us know that he was raised in a family of 15 children, and felt that if he could survive this and find inspiration than he could deal with anything in life.

After attending undergraduate University at Bucknell, Muyambi made a decision to give back to Africa. He also felt that he needed to try and be the best person he could be and passed this message onto us to “live your passions.” I feel that Muyambi is a very inspiring and helpful man in this world. It will be exciting to see what he creates in the future. I hope we are able to keep in contact with him and he is able to help guide us as we learn to be better global citizens.

— Catherine

I found that our newest interview was very interesting.

We got to learn about someone who started Bicycles Against Poverty which is a very amazing organization. I also found his story to be cool how at such a young age he had a big dream that was unselfish or help communities run more efficiently.

Muyambi is an amazing, unselfish and very smart man!

It is amazing to think that Muyambi was once my age, and I wonder what he was like in middle school. Did he think about changing the world at my age?

I know that he has left an impression on me to do the best I can in life and if I follow that rule, I will always be happy and do well for the world. He is an amazing, unselfish and very smart man!

— Kyle

It was great to speak to Muyambi, and how amazing to see him talking to us through Hangout.

Muyambi told us that there was a huge range of market and a lot of people who needed bicycles, but, farmers were actually the target market when he first started his organization.

Muyambi was in college when he had the idea and he had it after he visited areas in Uganda. He wanted to help the people in Uganda, and the surrounding area. All the money they put into bikes come back to BAP, so they could be self-sustaining. He was 18 when he started the company.

He wanted to help the people be in economical power, so that they knew how to support themselves. Kids had to be creative with adult bikes, because although having a small bike is nice, the adult had to use the same bicycle.

So, make the most of our opportunities, because we can make a big difference in Africa, and in the world.

I walked away with many thoughts about Muyambi, he told us that we should always have smarter people around us, because they could help us learn.

He also told us to know when we wrong and act with it, so we could correct our mistakes. He said to us that he wasn’t influenced by one individual person, but someone did help him refine the idea. He said to create an organization like that, we would need an idea that companies would stand behind. He knew what he was talking about, because he had experience in leadership. He was in positions of leadership in Uganda, and that helped him in creating Bicycles for Poverty.

He went to Bucknell University, in Pennsylvania, and this was after he was raised with a household of 15 siblings in Africa. The most important things he told us, was that we are resources that can help Africa and we have the power to empower Africans. He also told us to be the best person you can be. So, make the most of our opportunities, because we can make a big difference in Africa, and in the world.

— Aidan