An Embarrassing Case Study (Bikes)
Photo by Flo Karr on Unsplash.
This is the second in a three-part blog series on real-life people who had an idea to create a social enterprise, and risked going through the messy, embarrassing, vulnerable first steps to explore whether that dream might be possible. Here, I interview Steven McCluskey, social entrepreneur and Founder of Bikes for Refugees (Scotland) about those early steps towards launching his now-established inspirational social enterprise.
What was it like for Steven to launch his idea? How did he go about testing whether it was viable? And how did he navigate the discomfort that came up for him in the process? Let’s find out.
1) Please tell us a bit about you and your social enterprise.
I’m Steven McCluskey, Founder and CEO of Bikes for Refugees (Scotland). We support isolated and socio-economically disadvantaged New Scots (refugees and asylum seekers) to connect with local services and people through the refurbishment and free distribution of donated bicycles alongside the provision of information and signposting.
Bikes provide freedom of movement and a free means of travel empowering New Scots to link with communities and connect with essential services such as language classes, college/university and health appointments supporting the social inclusion and resettlement of individuals and families into Scottish and community life. Cycling also has proven physical and mental health benefits and particularly amongst refugees who have experienced considerable loss, separation and trauma in their lives. Over the past four years, we’ve supported 1,200+ New Scots.
I founded the project and, until recently, had been leading it from the front as a volunteer. This year I’ve now taken on the paid position of CEO and am dedicating my time fully to this enterprise.
2) Lots of us have ideas for ages and never act on them. What pushed you to see if you could actually make yours a reality?
My idea was first sparked by witnessing the difference that a bike made to the daily life of a new friend of mine, Yaman, who’s a refugee from Syria: it really reduced his isolation, helped him connect with local activities and services, and meet new people. I’d been involved in various refugee initiatives in the past, and had been inspired by the many grassroots innovations that I’d seen developed by people with very few resources; people who created really simple ideas that had enormous impact. I wondered how many other refugees, like Yaman, could benefit from such a simple solution.
Initially, I was simply driven by a desire to make a difference. I wanted to help as many people as possible who could find a bicycle helpful to their resettlement in Scotland. I decided to post on social media to request bicycle donations, and was bowled over by the response. And as the demand from New Scots took off, I felt it was time to start becoming more considered and strategic about putting in place more resources and capacity for a long-term plan.
3) Can you tell us about one hypothesis you wanted to test in the early stages of exploring your idea? What experiment did you run, and what did you learn from that?
There were two key hypotheses that everything depended on:
(1) that New Scots wanted bicycles; and
(2) that people would donate enough bikes to meet the need.
For the second hypothesis, I had a lot of conversations within my community. Through interviewing prospective donors, I quickly discovered that there were a surprising number of people who were both keen to support refugees and had unused bikes they were willing to donate.
4) What did you personally find most scary or challenging about running this experiment?
Honestly, the way I looked at it was that I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. In hindsight, the most challenging thing was that we didn’t have the resources in place to meet the huge numbers of people who came forward to donate their bikes. The challenge very quickly became about generating resources and building capacity very quickly. Four years later these challenges remain, except the scale and responsibility is greater. If anything, it’s scarier now than it was at inception. However, that’s also a big part of what makes it exciting and what motivates me.
5) What helped you work through this fear (or act despite feeling scared)?
I trusted in my transferable skills and experience in community development, service design, and fundraising. I didn’t need to know how to fix a bike. I just needed to identify the needs of a community and think creatively about how those needs might be met.
It also helped that I was using tried and tested methodologies. We relied heavily on ‘action research’, where continuous testing, evaluating, and learning is embedded within the project. We also drew on Assets Based Community Development (ABCD), which advocates a localised and bottom-up approach to development and sustainability. In other words, it harnesses existing community assets such as local knowledge, life skills, people, partnerships, resources, buildings, etc. We continue to rely on these approaches four years later.
6) What advice would you give an aspiring entrepreneur who wants to test their idea, but feels intimidated by the prospect?
I’d recommend the concept of Jugaad: ‘the gutsy art of improvising an ingenious solution’. Jugaad is a Hindi word meaning an ‘innovative fix’; an improvised solution born from ingenuity, cleverness, and resourcefulness. In Jugaad Innovation, which explores the mindset of Juggad innovators, the authors suggest six underlying principles that sum up the approach that I’ve taken over the last 25+ years, and have tried to apply to Bikes for Refugees (Scotland):
Seek opportunity in adversity
Do more with less
Think and act flexibly
Keep it simple (not simplistic)
Include the margin
Follow your heart
If possible, make your initiative fun and enjoyable; you’re more likely to stick with it. And lastly, don’t be afraid of failing. It informs and drives creativity and innovation.