The initiative aims to help women overcome barriers to entering the boda boda business, including limited access to capital, training and customers. A rider and other participants during the Spiro and Entrepreneurial Solutions Partners (ESP launch of the Women in E-Mobility programme in Rwanda/ HANDOUT Electric mobility company Spiro and Entrepreneurial Solutions Partners (ESP), a pan-African firm specialising in entrepreneurship development, have launched the Women in E-Mobility programme in Rwanda.
The initiative, which will expand to Kenya, is designed to help women become professional electric motorcycle riders, develop their own businesses and generate sustainable income. The programme has started with 50 women undergoing training in Rwanda as part of an initial pilot targeting 500 participants, before expansion into other African markets, including Kenya, with an ambition to support 5,000 women by 2030.
It seeks to increase women's participation in the continent's growing electric mobility industry, where motorcycles are increasingly becoming important for passenger transport, delivery services and logistics. In Rwanda, women account for just four per cent of transport workers, highlighting the gender gap the programme seeks to address.
However, a 2025 study in Kigali found that 47.7 per cent of women surveyed would consider becoming motorcycle taxi drivers. For Kenya, the initiative presents an opportunity to expand women's participation in the boda boda industry and emerging electric motorcycle businesses as the country embraces cleaner transport alternatives.
Spiro already has an established presence in Kenya, where it operates electric motorcycle assembly activities and a battery-swapping network, providing infrastructure that could support the participation of women in the sector as the programme expands. The initiative combines practical motorcycle riding and road safety training with financial literacy, digital skills and entrepreneurship development to prepare participants to operate commercially.
Women will also have access to affordable financing, including lease-to-own arrangements, allowing them to acquire Spiro electric motorcycles and access its battery-swapping infrastructure.