Exclusive interview with Chris Ehl, co-founder, Wahu Mobility, cycling addict, entrepreneur and humanity activist and Ali Abdo, founder, The Ride to COP29, sustainability leader, eco-adventurer, climate actionist and multi Guinness World Records holder. The two are about to embark on an 8,000-km electric bike Ride to the COP29 climate summit taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan in October to raise awareness about climate change. Wahu Mobility has partnered with the Egyptian adventurer and Ali and Chris will both use Wahu ebikes to cross ten countries in their ecycle journey from Dubai to COP29.
Please can you introduce yourselves.
Ali: Okay, hello everyone, I’m Ali Abdo. I’m an adventurer and climate actionist and the founder of the Right to 2030 initiative.
Chris: Hi, my name is Chris Ehl. I’m a humanist activist. I’m an impact entrepreneur and I’m a bicycle addict. So I’m really happy to join Ali on the Ride to 2030, especially this year’s edition where we’re riding to Baku in Azerbaijan to be present at COP29 with our important message. I’m also a co-founder of Wahu Mobility, which is an African emobility venture. It is the first venture where we design and produce electric bikes in the factory and our highlight will be to embark on this 8,000 km journey, Ali and myself, and I’m hoping he likes riding the Wahu bike, because he’s done everything on an e-motorcycle in the past.
Ali: Thank you, Chris. I’m sure that I will love it, especially riding with you. It is the first time for me to ride with a colleague or a friend. I used to ride solo during the past years, but I decided to give it a try this year and involve more people.
Ali, have you always been interested in emobility?
My journey with e-mobility actually started in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. I noticed that due to the reduction of transportation, the air quality increased and a lot of impact of climate change on our communities reduced.
So I started to use a sustainable transportation method, which was an electric motorcycle, and I started to advocate for the use of sustainable transportation. And I did some activities to encourage people to use sustainable transportation methods. For example, in 2021, I received the Guinness Record for greatest distance on an electric motorcycle in 24 hours, trying to encourage people to own or to use sustainable transportation methods and try to prove you can do such a huge challenge on an EV. After that we did many things, a number of rides, a number of activities and so on.
Chris, let’s focus on Wahu Mobility for a moment, when was it founded and where you are active?
Wahu Mobility is the first of its kind in Africa. The idea really came out of necessity and transport poverty. Africa is a continent which is going to double in size to 2.8 billion people, right? And there are not very good local transport solutions, right? So, we felt that there was an opportunity to help people get from A to B. It is one of the challenges and then doing it in a sustainable way is another challenge. And the third challenge is people need to make a living, because you will need so many jobs in Africa in the future. And we thought it would be a great combination to design, develop, produce and operate electric bicycle fleets in Africa.
So, we started in Ghana together with a local all-Ghanaian team with some support from experts and investors around the world to create a sustainable mobility solution. So people can actually get a bike, they can get a job with a bike to perform transport services and they can make a very good living off the bike and after 18 or 24 months—we have two programmes—they actually own the bike.
So, this is a wonderful impact story and I’m really happy to ride together with Ali on these bikes to show what young people can do, what they can create and to also showcase the potential in Africa for the people there, for the companies there, but also for the rest of the world, to really take Africa seriously and support it to be very successful.
Ali, you are the founder of the Ride to COP29, and you have been doing this for a while, even breaking Guinness records. Tell us more.
Thanks Chris, for this great work, and actually that’s why I love Wahu. It will be the first time for me to ride an electric bicycle. I am a motorcyclist from my origins and I’m used to riding motorcycles. But due to the great values of Wahu, I decided to use Wahu this year.
About The Ride to COP29, it is the third version of The Ride to COP. The Ride to COP is an activity of our main initiative, which is The Ride to 2030. This activity started in 2021 during the hosting of COP27 in Egypt. I decided to do something different with my electric motorcycle, and I visited all Egyptian cities on my electric motorcycle to raise awareness about climate change, to empower youth with the needed skills and to highlight the impact of climate change on the Egyptian community. Also to highlight success stories for national projects, local projects, startups, and so on. And we got the chance to represent and show the impact of the ride at the main COP27 conference at Sharm El-Sheikh.
Due to the impact we had during the ride, we were recognised by His Excellency, the President of Egypt, who encouraged us to continue the ride. After COP27, we managed to ride from Egypt to the UAE on an electric motorcycle, replicating the same experience but on a regional level, and we broke the Guinness Record for most cities visited on an electric motorcycle.
During COP28, we were recognised by the Arab League of States, and we were appointed as one of the Top 15 initiatives around the world in tackling climate change. This encouraged and empowered us to continue our Ride to Baku and Azerbaijan. So this year, we will be riding, starting from Expo City in Dubai in the UAE to Baku for the COP29, passing through eight countries between the UAE and Azerbaijan. This includes Arab countries, non-Arab countries, and we will visit a lot of communities over 15 cities during the ride. And during this year’s ride we are planning to break three Guinness records, which are: 1) for the most countries visited on an electric bicycle, 2) the most capitals visited on an electric bicycle and 3) the longest journey on an electric bicycles, namely 7 days. However, the Guinness World Records are not a goal for us. We are trying to accredit the climate action we are performing here. We are trying to document every action that we are doing, every city we are visiting and just try to inspire more people to take similar actions. It also helps us to reach an older audience and therefore reach more people, strengthening our message and amplifying our message and reaching our goals.
Chris, why the decision by Wahu to do this and what will this entail? How can the public get involved?
Wahu is very excited to support this, and I’m really happy to join Ali on this journey, because it’s a wonderful way to show what can be done. And I think this is the spirit we need for the future. People need to understand that they can actually do things, and they can really make a difference. If you can cover such a long distance, breaking world records, talk to community leaders, talk to politicians, talk to the people and visit schools to encourage people, I think that’s a great cause. The claim of Wahu is charged with freedom, right? And I think this freedom we all have and we can take as humans all around the world to really support the climate change initiative and to ensure that we will have a better future together. And that is why we’re doing the ride.
And we’re also calling you all to join us on the ride. We will have extra bikes and you can see our journey online, you can follow the journey, we’ll have a daily podcast where we talk about our experience and some of the important topics and we will highlight great initiatives that we see along the way. And you guys can ride with us. So if you come to the places we’re going be, you’ll see our route online. You can always join us, we’ll be happy to talk to you, we’ll be happy to discuss the future and we’re going be happy to ride with you guys along the way. So please join us, become active and also make a difference.
Ali, tell us about the freedom that two-wheeler transport will give you on this Ride to COP29.
Yes, the freedom of using two wheels. Two wheels is considered a vulnerable transportation method. It is not a car. It is much easier to do this trip by car, by the way. And it is much easier to take a flight from Dubai to Baku, right? But doing it on two wheels, especially on electric bicycles, it gives us an opportunity to communicate with everyone on the road. It give us the opportunity to observe and to collect more stories. And it makes a lot closer to people on the road. If you are in a car, you have a door, you have a glass around you, you’re like you are living in a bubble, you are isolated from nature itself. That’s why we are using two wheels.
And the main goal of such a challenge is to inspire people that even impossible things can be achieved if we need to do it. Before, each ride was like an impossible feat to achieve. But we need to prove to people that by partnerships, by working together, by believing in our abilities, we can do such things.
Chris Ehl: Yes, bikes are inclusive and they provide space for diversity. Anyone can ride a bike. You don’t need a licence. People of all ages can ride bikes. Women around the world, older people around the world. So everybody can ride bikes, right? And this is what we want to do and showcase. And we’re happy if you guys will join us in doing that. And I think in Africa, it’s also very important to showcase also these capabilities and this potential. Why? Because Africa is going to double in size. I think it’s going to be a key place defining the future of humanity, how we will deal with the challenges of a growing population and how will we tackle the challenge of the climate and the topics of equality. So, I think it’s very important to engage in this ride, and we would be happy for you guys to support us in doing so and to work on real solutions that have an impact and allow us to have a great future.
Ali, tell us more about the route that you will follow to COP29.
Okay, let me name the countries we will visit this year, so that if anyone in the audience is located in these countries they can come and join us and support us as we commit to this ride. We will be starting from Dubai and we will visit Oman, then Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Turkey, Georgia and then Azerbaijan. So if you are based or operating or you know anyone based in these countries, please feel free to reach out to us and feel free to join our ride. Feel free to share your success stories or impact stories with us. We would love to highlight this during our ride.
Chris, what have been the most important lessons from working with Wahu Mobility for you? Do you have any advice for other green entrepreneurs?
I think working at Wahu Mobility has been an incredible journey for me, because I’ve been a tech entrepreneur all my life. I work with big companies on digital solutions and our digital future. I’ve written several books on artificial intelligence and Wahu has been a highlight for me. Why? Because it’s very purpose-driven, it’s impact-driven. So the team at Wahu, and I’m saying hi to everyone there,
has created this wonderful opportunity and journey and worked really hard in designing the bike, making it very durable and rugged, as you will see on our ride, and providing a business, using it as a tool to provide work opportunities for young people in Ghana and later on in all of Africa.
So I think what I have learned is that you can really make a difference as a team. If you work together, if you bring together good people, you can make a difference. And purpose is really a great thing, driving a young enterprise. Because if you wake up every morning and you know why you go to work and you know that you can make a difference, and you work together as a team, I think that is great. This is how all entrepreneurship is successful. And the purpose of having that positivity, and enabling and facilitating that change gives the team energy. It’s a tough journey to create a venture like this. You need a lot of support from experts, also financial support, of course, to make it happen, but it’s really worth it and you will learn more than anything else you could imagine.
Ali, after the Ride to COP29, what new, record-breaking challenges are you planning?
As I mentioned, in the Ride to COP29, it will be the first ride for an electric bicycle on such a long journey, crossing 10 countries. It is a huge challenge. And we are planning to break three Guinness Records for now and we still have a surprise planned for two more records on specific locations during our ride. In each country, we have planned activities with some partners. We have a plan to be announced soon of breaking two more Guinness Records. In short, it is the greatest distance on an electric bicycle in 12 hours and the greatest distance on an electric bicycle in 24 hours.
Sounds exciting! Anything else you would like to add that we did not cover?
Chris: Thank you all for listening to this conversation. We’re looking forward to seeing you on the road and we’re looking forward to see you on social media. Do connect with us, share your experiences, share your projects which are hopeful. I think we should be optimistic for the future. We should look at the opportunities and not get bogged down by the problems. This doesn’t help us. We need to find solutions. These need to be new solutions and we need to activate our friends, our families, our communities, our business partners to make a positive impact. So thank you all for your time and listening to this. Ali, any closing words from your end?
Ali: Thank you everyone. And just remember, there is always a solution if you want to achieve it.
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