New University Bicycle Scheme

Now here's an example of ethical, environmental, and business entrepreneurship - a new scheme set-up by recent graduates James Paton and Daniel Jones, both 23, will lend bicycles to Cardiff University students in exchange for a £20 deposit. They will then sell the space between the crossbars as advertising space, and make a tidy profit on it. The duo's business will then give the students £50 if they subsequently return their bicycles in a serviceable condition. Also: 'Just when you thought the scheme couldn't get any more brilliant, the duo decided to donate the used bicycles to charity at the end of the academic year, shipping them to Gambia as part of a project called Bicycles4Africa' -

Any qualms the students might feel will no doubt be assuaged by company's charitable side, which has also pulled in sponsors. Unicycles have been working with a charity called Jole Rider that ships vast containers full of used bicycles to Africa before distributing them to secondary schools...

...Despite such protestations, the pair seem to be well on their way to success. Fifty bicycles will be loaned to Cardiff students in September, a number that will be increased after Christmas. The company then hopes to expand to other university cities next academic year, and already has its eye on some high-end institutions.

Read in full - 'Bicycle advertising: Pump up the cash'

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