Establishing Bike Enterprises Across Jordan

JORDAN | On April 12th, the first of two shipping containers of bikes arrived in Jordan – launching a large scale AKP presence throughout the country.

Photo by Andy Austin, Peak Photography

There is no “prescription” for how best to establish bike shops. Rather, we respond to individual circumstances in each location. In Botswana for instance, AKP worked with the local council to secure a plot of donated land for the bike shop. In Tanzania, we worked with the Ministry of Social Services to select five widows to be the beneficiaries of the training and, ultimately, managers of the bike shop.

In Jordan, we’ve taken a different approach. Rather than establish full-fledged shops selling bikes, we are working with partners to establish seven different bike rental businesses in a series of prime and emerging tourism destinations around the country. Each of the new ventures will be managed by young Jordanian entrepreneurs who will receive training tailored for the bike rental businesses, including bicycle tour guiding, guest safety and security, route identification, marketing and promotion of their new businesses, accounting, etc. A&K-Jordan staff are among the professional resources being made available to these young entrepreneurs. Our guests will have the opportunity to experience a bike tour at any of the project locations, but especially in Madaba, a town where 90% of all A&K tours to Jordan stop.

With three to four jobs created by each bike rental business, those two containers of bikes are projected to create between 21 to 28 new jobs and enrich the tourism profile of Jordan as a biking destination along the way.

The photos below illustrate the conversion of a shipping container into the store front for the first bike rental business at Feynan Village, located at the entrance to Wadi Rum.

The shop is located at the entrance to Wadi Rum.

The shipping container has been converted into a store front. The first bike rental business at Feynan Village.