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defining itself in terms of social entrepre- neurship. What? Riders' defines a social entrepreneur as a noun indicating "soci- ety's change agent: pioneer of innovations that benefit humanity." Riders' worldview recognizes that supposedly sleepy tradi- tions in parts of Africa have less to do with culture than disease - and that extending health outreach via motorcycles can help launch people to active participation in the economic mainstream. (Rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof generally share this philosophy and lobbied politicians at the 2005 G8 economic summit to begin investing in Africa's social capital, instead of using the continent merely as a source of raw materials). In practice, Riders' social entrepre- neurship means discouraging the import of motorcycles to Africa until mechanics and nurse-riders are trained in transport resource manage- ment (TRM). Training riders and mechanics is part of a much bigger system involving sup- ply-chain management and "outreach" maintenance. "More than 700 health workers from African countries have been trained in riding or driving at our International Academy of Vehicle Management, but the key skill taught at the academy is fleet management in harsh conditions," Ngwarati Mashonga says. IAVM courses cover all aspects of two- and four-wheel rider/driver training, tech- nical training, road safety, training of train- ers, accounting, and management of logis- tics systems. This is how Riders' transfers the knowledge needed to sustain the smooth running of national health out- reach programs. A mutual friend observes that chatting with Barry Coleman is a bit like Google. Neither automatically tells what you need to know. But, ask the right questions and useful answers are forthcoming - along with delightful detours. For years we've wondered how to explain Riders' mission. Do racers understand Riders' better than they did in the past? Coleman turns the question on its head: "Does anyone really understand Riders'? Not altogether. Few people in the United Nations or NGOs understand how to cost motorcycle-based health outreach. But racers certainly understand our TRM approach of maintenance by the calendar, so they never break down. The problem is doing it in rural Africa where supply chains are fragile. The upshot is that while the UN and its bankers love the fact that they can buy 10 motorcycles for the cost of one Land Rover, they lack bikers' common sense on maintenance." MotoGP and World Superbike stars like the fact that Riders' signs contracts with health ministries to run vehicles according to their cost-per-mile (or kilo- meter) calculator. Motorcyclist funding and support shown at Day of Champions is fundamental to Riders' independence when governments and others tempt it to forget its principles and mission. Riders' has walked away from negotiations when powerful global organizations (who will not be named) naively tried to cut main- tenance. Penny pinching on parts results in motorcycle graveyards behind health ministries in many African countries, crowded with bikes scrapped after a few months' service because a $5 part was unavailable. "Our clients are governments that understand what motorcyclists know," says Coleman. Presently its main clients are the Gambia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, with smaller partnerships with other NGOs in Kenya and Tanzania. Coleman says he recently had a curious experience at a conference in New York: "A man came up to me and said he wanted Riders to take a look at their health programs. It turned out he was the minister of health in Mozambique," Coleman said. It is a country that, after decades of war followed all the advice Washington, D.C., has to offer, but because of bad luck with floods, still faces overwhelming hardships. "We did go to Mozambique and had a look, and we might be working there in future," Coleman said. Clearly, Riders' world profile is reach- ing new levels. But how did this happen? Invitations from the Schwab Foundation to rub elbows with the Bill Gates and Clintons of the world, at the annual World Economic Forum in Switzerland, brought high-level scrutiny. OC & C Strategy Consultants conducted a due-diligence report on Riders' opera- tions in Africa. "They turned us upside down," Coleman said. "Finding that we didn't have much money, but what we did have we put to good use. They told us that in their opinion we run world-class busi- nesses in Africa and they don't know how we do it." This positive audit led to membership in the Schwab Foundation and support from other organizations. The Skoll Foundation (set up by eBay co-founder Jeff Skoll) awarded Riders' $750,000 over three years. "Jeff's a great bloke," Coleman said. "He's self-effacing but not too much so, and he does fantastic work. Not just with the global social entrepreneurs, but in making socially important films too, like Good Night and Good Luck, the film about newsman Edward R. Murrow's defiance of the McCarthy media witch-hunt." During qualifying for the British GP on July 1, Eurosport commentator Julian Ryder mentioned that even while Riders' was raising over $346,000 on Day of Champions, one of its directors, Stuart MacDonald, was accepting "an award from global accounting and consulting firm Ernst & Young for social entrepreneurship." Riders' hardnosed business accounting also won plaudits from Laury Minard, the Forbes Global editor, who, sadly, died climbing Mount Rainier in 2001. Now more business people, such as eBay's Skoll, are mixing business with social entrepreneurship for Riders'. Pointing to how smoothly Day of Champions 2006 ran, Coleman praises a new generation of staffers - in Africa and England - "with tal- ent and new skills to do things better than in the past." Coleman asserts that no other organi- zation addresses intermediate transport like Riders'. "I can't believe nobody else is doing this," is his perplexed comment. "This is much too important a job to be left with a small organization with almost no resources. But still, it shows how much the world needs motorcyclists and motorcycle sport!" Perhaps it's just a question of time. But health outreach is needed now, and it will be decades before roads are built in obscure areas of the continent. So, until some genius discovers how to download vaccines from the Internet, motorcycles will be needed to save lives in Africa. CN U.S. clubs seeking a charitable outlet can contact Riders' facilitator Murph Murphy (murph@riders.org) or other staffers on: www.riders.org. Donington Park June, 29, 2006 JULY 19, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 34 Day of Champions Randy Mamola helps Colin Edwards auction off a set of the Texan's leathers. Nicky Hayden and Toby Moody get the crowd fired up. Kenny Roberts Jr. donated a helmet that was auctioned off.