When new bicycle rental and tour company Ride Along GY launched last Saturday, it was the realisation of an idea that had been birthed almost five years ago by its founder, Cherry-Ann Greene, who has had to navigate some bumpy roads along the way.
Greene told Stabroek News that she is grateful for the tremendous support she has already received for the venture, which is the first of its kind in Guyana.
Greene was first introduced to the idea of a bicycle rentals almost nine years ago when she visited Suriname, where she made use of the service. Four years ago, she thought of starting her own bicycle rental business here and how much it could benefit Guyanese and foreigners alike but she said she was discouraged from pursuing it.
While Greene appeared to have given up on the idea, life intervened. She lost her job at a media entity in December, 2019. At the time, she was pursuing studies in human resources. Being at home provided the needed time for some introspection and she gave herself three months to figure what her next move was. Various jobs offers started rolling in but she turned them down because they weren’t what she was looking for. By then, Guyana had its first confirmed COVID-19 case, which led to a lockdown in April.
Stuck at home for longer than she had initially planned, Greene began journaling and eventually made a resolution. “At that point, I told myself that when we came out of lockdown, I wasn’t going to work with anybody else anymore. It was then that I decided to return to my initial idea of the bicycle rental and tour company and as the ideas came, I would write them down,” she said.
To have a better idea of whether the business could thrive, she decided to do a survey. She did not allow for family and friends to take part as she feared biased responses as opposed to the straight-forward answers she expected from the general public. Greene said 70% of all those who took the survey gave positive feedback to the idea of the business.
In June of last year, she registered the business and a friend who learnt of the initiative sent her a link to apply to the Small Business Bureau for a million-dollar grant, which she did. “I also had friends in the police force and the army that I would share my ideas with who would share their opinions with me on how I could make the business work as I thought about security of the bicycles as well as other things. I would also go online and research what other businesses in other countries are doing to make their businesses successful,” she said.
However, it was not all smooth sailing as ahead of a planned visit to the United States in November last year Greene tested positive for COVID-19. Looking back, Greene said, it seemed as if nothing was going her way. Getting COVID was her biggest fear come true and she chuckled as she shared how paranoid she was of the virus as she would be at home alone but still constantly washing her hands. Three days after learning she had tested positive for the virus, she remembered that she had signed up for the Small Business Bureau grant and decided to call to see what was happening. It was then she learnt that the Bureau had been trying to reach her all along as she was one of the 20 persons who had won a million-dollar grant. She was then given a week and a half to meet the rest of requirements to be able to collect her money, which she was able to do. The woman noted that had she left for the US at the planned time, she would not have been around to take care of the necessary requirements to collect the grant.
While a million dollars was a huge help in her making her plans come to fruition, it was less than half of the amount she needed to get the business all set. So far, she has expended $2.5 million in the run up to the launch. The remainder of the cost was funded through her savings and with the help of family and friends. She noted that 14 of her relatives had flown in just to be present at the launch last Saturday at the Carifesta Sports Complex, where Minister of Tourism Oneidge Walrond took part in the proceedings.
Greene said she will be working closely with the Ministry of Tourism towards setting up a cycle hub on the seawall and at other tourist hotspots in the city starting in August. While she is focused on George-town for now, she does have plans of extending these hubs to locations like Diamond, Linden, Berbice and Bartica. In addition, Greene has shared her ideas with Minister Walrond for demarcation of dedicated bicycle paths to avoid cyclists having to ride in traffic.
Apart from the ministry, Greene has also already partnered with other businesses.
Among them is the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GTT), which will be providing SIM cards loaded with GTT’s 4G LTE service that will be installed on all of the bicycles for better security. The SIM cards come with GPS tracking so that the bicycle rental company knows where its clients are as well as their bicycles. Customers utilizing the service can also make payments for rental of the cycles using GTT’s MMG service.
Another key partner is SQ Apparel, a custom-made company based in Miami, Florida, which has entered a sponsorship agreement with Ride Along GY for the next two years. It will be providing the staff and customers with gear, inclusive of t-shirts, shorts, backpacks, raincoats and face masks.
The cost to rent the bicycles varies depending on the time they are borrowed for. The price starts at $1,500 for two hours. In addition, customers are required to provide a copy of a picture identification as well as a deposit of $10,000, which will be refunded to them once the bicycle is returned in the same condition it was borrowed in.
At present, Greene has a staff of two—a personal assistant and a tour guide.
The rental company also offers tours around Guyana, another part of the business which kicked off a few weeks ago and has already taken several groups to Kaieteur Falls and around Guyana since then. Greene also runs Event Management and Catering Services called ‘The Wonderland-Events Management and Catering Services, which provides meals for tourists going on these trips and which will be available for customers using their bicycle rental services also.
At present Ride Along GY is offering 12 of 14 packages for local and foreign tourists. The packages and their prices can be viewed on the company’s website (http://www.ridealonggy.com/) or on its Facebook page.
