Afrocentric Bamboo Bikes Limited, producers of bamboo bike frames for the international market, has through the assistance of the Skilled Development Funds (SDF), held a five-day skills development training for its staff.

It was to enhance their expertise to meet the demands of the export market and to position the Company as one of the leading suppliers of bamboo bikes in the world.

Ms Bernice Dapaah, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Company, said the company was poised to be a reliable partner and major player in the bamboo bike export industry.

She said due to the Company’s commitment to quality products, it became necessary for it to approach the SDF for assistance to upgrade the skills of its staff to meet the standards of the global export market.

The CEO said there was a high demand for the bikes from mainly the United States of America (USA), Australia and Europe, thus, requiring the need to train more people in the skills of bamboo bike manufacturing.

Currently, the Company has a backlog of orders from its partners in Europe and was struggling to meet the demand, she noted.

“The Industry has the capacity to produce about 1,000 bikes annually and I am hopeful that with the demand for the bikes, we would expand our workshop to employ more people to help meet these demands”, Ms Dapaah said.

She was happy that through the SDF, the Company has been able to bring in Professor John Gershenson, a mechanical engineer and bamboo bike expert from the Michigan Technology University, USA, to take the staff through the training.

He said there were a few experienced people in bamboo bikes manufacturing all over the world, and was upbeat that the scaling up of staff employment by the Company will help boost the number of experts in that field.

Professor Gershenson commended the dexterity of Ghanaians at cutting the bamboo into the various parts but suggested that the company should have a quality control system in place to ensure all the parts meet quality standards of the export market.

The SDF is a fund under the Council for Vocational and Technical Education and Training (COTVET) geared towards improving the productivity and competitiveness of skilled workforce.