Bamboo Revolution

One man, one village, and the bicycle that changed everything

All images courtesy of Booomers Bamboo Bikes and The Yonso Project.

Kwabena Danso didn’t grow up riding bicycles. When Danso was a kid, there weren’t even that many bikes around. Some were available for rent, so neighbors could run errands around the village, but Danso’s family couldn’t afford even that small luxury. And anyway, it took him years for the chance to even learn.

“I knew very little about bikes,” Danso told me recently over Zoom. “I learned to ride a bicycle when I was 15 or 16 years.”

In college, Danso studied psychology. Later, he earned an MBA in Business Administration. But for all those years, bicycles were the last thing on his mind. He didn’t go on extravagant tours. He didn’t bomb down mountains. He didn’t apprentice in a repair shop to put himself through school.

And yet — cycling has become a pillar of his life. Kwabena Danso is the founder and CEO of Booomers Bicycles, based in the African nation of Ghana. To Danso, the bicycle isn’t just sports equipment; it’s a holistic education. It’s an economic powerhouse. It’s a business model based on health and sustainability. And above all, it’s a chance to raise rural Ghanaians out of poverty, so the next generation doesn’t have to grow up the way he did.