Colouring the streets of the UAE through up-cycling and customizing forgotten bicycle frames to save the environment while encouraging a healthier lifestyle. Each sale also contributes to funding a bicycle for a child in a refugee camp to ensure that each purchase spreads the bicycle love worldwide.

Our bicycles descend from a historic lineage of the Japanese bicycle. At Chari Cycles, we up-cycle bicycle frames to promote sustainability and a clean environment while encouraging a healthier lifestyle.

WE UP-CYCLE
At Charicycles we find bicycle frames that have been forgotten and restore them into the beautiful bikes they once were, giving them a re-newed heartbeat and home, while promoting a cleaner environment.

WE CUSTOMIZE
Our bikes are fully customizable so that you can get the dream ride you always wanted. Feel free to browse our ready collection or design your own.

WE GIVE BACK
Every child feels freedom when riding a bicycle. At Chari Cycles, we want to make sure every underprivileged child has the right to their childhood and the freedom that comes along with it. We provide bicycles to children in refugee camps around the Middle East bringing some light to their days.

Hippie tales & happy trails, contact us on [email protected] or visit us on www.charicycles.com!

Connect with Rania on LinkedIn.  Connect with Zaina on LinkedIn.

Enjoy the show!

Posted on June 18, 2018

Show Notes:

• 1:30 – How Charicycles was born on an apartment balcony
• 4:15 – The transition from making one bike for personal use into a new and growing business
• 5:45 – The startup Rania & Zaina created before Charicycles
• 6:30 – Why Zaina is so passionate about design and creativity
• 7:00 – How Rania & Zaina started the “Etsy of the Middle East” … a marketplace for 1000+ artisans and craft makers
• 8:30 – Some of the challenges that Rania & Zaina faced while building their online marketplace and why it ‘failed’
• 10:00 – Why starting your own business is a “real life MBA”
• 12:15 – The key learnings that Rania & Zaina took from their first startup and applied to Charicycles
• 13:15 – The importance of defining your specific target market
• 14:00 – Why “cash is always king” and the importance of cash flow to startups
• 16:15 – How “learning to fail” can set you up for future success
• 17:00 – What the first 6 months of operations at Charicycles were like … building bikes in a dirt lot at night
• 18:30 – Charicycles first hire … a painter from Satwa
• 20:30 – Where the vintage bicycle frames come from … heavy container cargo in Sharjah coming from Japan
• 22:30 – Why up-cycling is the future of sustainable resource management and supply chain effectiveness
• 23:15 – How Charicycles is more of a service business, rather than a product business
• 24:30 – What the Charicycles go-to-market and growth strategy is
• 26:15 – Why constant product development and improvement is critical
• 26:30 – The potential for growth and expansion into Europe … a homegrown product in the Middle East for export to the world
• 29:15 – Why Charicycles’ ambition is to revolutionalize the consumer mindset to appreciate longterm and handcrafted quality products
• 30:30 – How Charicycles is thinking about applying up-cycle methods to other products besides bicycles … reducing consumerism
• 32:15 – How you can gain ownership over your mind to become more intentional with your thoughts and happier each day
• 34:15 – Steps we can each take to be more thoughtful and responsible consumers
• 35:45 – The charity efforts that Charicycles has undertaken at refugee camps in Lebanon … bike-sharing programs
• 38:00 – How Charicycles used bicycles as motivation for kids to excel at school in the Lebanese refugee camps
• 39:30 – The challenges that entrepreneurs face when building a startup and how to push through them
• 43:15 – Why mental health is so critical for entrepreneurs
• 45:45 – The importance of having people and communities close to you that support and encourage you along the journey