SA’s Got Talent: GezaJozi e-Trike

A former Johannesburg junior mayor has invented an electric tricycle called GezaJozi that assists informal recyclers to collect waste and doubles as mobile advertising.

Sometimes those who peak early (think head prefects) achieve less later on in life, for whatever reason. Gabriel Ally, a former junior mayor of Johannesburg and recipient of the Allan Gray Fellowship does not fall into that category. He had a vision for a simple vehicle that could assist informal waste pickers to transport their cargoes easily and safely.

There are over 120 000 informal recyclers in South Africa that live from hand to mouth. Gabriel’s goal is to assist as many of these men and women as possible. The first GezaJozi prototype led to two more, and eventually the vehicle had transformed from a bicycle with a trailer to an electrically assisted cargo tricycle – now known as the GezaJozi e-trike.

The beauty of it is its simplicity. “We give our e-trikes to waste pickers for free and we fund the e-trikes with advertising revenue from corporate and public sponsors,” explains Gabriel.

“The vehicles are housed at a central location. The pickers collect them in the morning and travel along a predetermined route. We monitor their travels with a GPS tracking system and report these findings to our sponsors so that they can quantify a return on their advertising investment.

“The vehicles are returned at the end of the day so that they can be repaired and the pickers take home 100 percent of the waste revenue they collect. GezaJozi is a win-win-win – for the waste pickers, for private and public companies, and for society.”

Future projects include designing an electric tricycle that serves as a mobile spaza shop for aspiring entrepreneurs. And there’s another initiative in the pipeline.”I’m passionate about water scarcity in South Africa,” says Gabriel.”So I’m developing an agricultural irrigation product that reduces water wastage in the production of food.”

Recycling… business… water-wise initiatives… can someone make Gabriel Ally the senior mayor of Johannesburg, please?

This article was originally featured in IMAGINE. Find out more about GezaJozi at gezajozi.co.za.