Public transit in Singapore is comparable to bicycles. There are lots of them, renting one is inexpensive, and you are not expected to fix the bike if it fails. Mike Tan Tan Win, 33, made the decision to start over for them. Throwing them away is too expensive when you consider that making a new bike can cost anywhere from $150 to $200.
The impoverished will be content with such a “iron horse” even though these motorcycles may seem disposable and basic to the privileged. Mike lived and studied in Singapore for 18 years before coming back to Myanmar in 2011 to launch a digital business.
He observed that underprivileged kids in Burma had to go far to attend school. Here, a bicycle is necessary. As a result, Burma receives large shipments of old bicycles from Japan and Thailand. Mike was inspired by this discovery to start lesswalk.org, a nonprofit organization that donates surplus Singapore bicycles to underprivileged children in Burma. 10,000 bicycles have already been shipped from Singapore to Myanmar.
Prior to that, he added more room in the back so that siblings could go to school together and replaced digital locks with traditional chain locks. He mentioned that transporting the bikes to recipients in rural places would cost $35–$40. Thankfully, Mike has found more sponsors who will each pay 50% of the project’s expenditures. In order to continue his search, Mike must now import bicycles from China, Japan, Taiwan, and the Netherlands. He hopes that by doing this, he would motivate others to assist those in need.
