Some time ago, Prague was flooded with pink bicycles. It was the brainchild of Vítek Ježek and his bikesharing project called Rekola. The goal was to revitalize and diversify public space. Vítek received several awards from local and international competitions for his idea and was invited to Silicon Valley. In 2014, Vítek went through our incubation project with the Rekola project. Social Impact Award.
Vítek Ježek is a passionate programmer who dreams that one day people will love their city as much as he does. That they will enjoy riding the metro, listening to poetry in the streets, or just helping each other selflessly. That's why he runs Rekola, a public pink bike rental company that aims to make commuting easier for residents of Prague, Brno, Olomouc, and Pardubice.
University insight
When he begins to tell his story about how he got into technology, he stops at the Jan Kepler Gymnasium, known for its alternative approach to teaching and students: "I only got there for the second time, but I am extremely grateful. The first place is mutual trust there. It taught me to trust myself and other people."
During his studies, he started creating websites with his classmates, was put in charge of managing the school's IT network, and acquired sufficient knowledge that got him to the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University. One November day, he happened to sit next to Honza Sládek at a lecture, with whom he founded a company after a few months of working together.
"In high school, I thought I wouldn't have any real money and my first 'socialist' job until I was thirty. But surprisingly, it came much earlier," recalls Vítek.
Pink start
In addition to the business itself – developing web applications and websites for clients – he decided to also engage in random projects that address social issues or respond to current problems.
In 2013, Vítek coincidentally met a few enthusiasts from Suchdol, who had already placed a few bikes in their area for free loan. He was enthusiastic about their idea and together they agreed to scale the project throughout Prague. In the end, however, Vítek took on the task himself, because the authors of the idea could not devote more time to its implementation.
"I saw a great opportunity in the connection with the mobile application. The main problem at the time was how to effectively give cyclists the codes for the locks," he describes. He asked the Vodafone Foundation for help, which supported him. It accepted the project into its experimental program, the Laboratory, which opened Vítek's eyes and many doors.
“I started working more according to the Lean Startup methodology, which forced me to do a detailed survey of the intended target group first,” he says. He assumed that the main clients would be tourists, for whom the bikes would make it easier to move around a foreign city. However, it turned out that they often carry large suitcases with them, do not have a data connection and want comfort. The second choice fell on students traveling between faculties, the canteen and dormitories. The positive feedback was decisive, and the first test of operation was successfully carried out on the vast Dejvice campus of the Czech Technical University and the University of Technology.
Bikes in the desert and on Kampa
Thanks to word of mouth, Rekols started to be talked about even before Vítek had any bicycles. He managed to get the first one from voluntary donors. Those who donated a workable bike could name it and ride it for free for a whole year. The supply also came from the non-profit organization Kola pro Afriku. They can only send mountain bikes to the challenging desert terrains, the road bikes were in their warehouse. “We agreed that for every bike donated, we would pay for another bike to travel to the southern hemisphere,” Vítek comments on the partnership.
He financed the initial costs with a successful crowdfunding campaign and a grant from the Vodafone Foundation. He also received additional money thanks to multiple wins in the Social Impact Award competition organized by Impact Hub. Over time, he was able to afford to employ several servicemen to take care of broken bicycles.
Announcement of the Social Impact Award 2014
In April 2014, full operation started with more than a hundred bikes in Prague 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7. During the season, up to 570 people who bought a membership had the opportunity to ride. In the first six months, 12 rentals took place with an average of 000 kilometers on each odometer.
Open Mouth Silicon Valley
Together with a few other projects from the Vodafone Foundation Laboratory program, Vítek went to one of the largest investor events for socially responsible enterprises, Socap, in California. The Czech Republic was not the only representative involved in bikesharing, but Rekola was clearly the furthest away compared to the others.
"Everyone was very surprised that the project was able to reach the implementation phase so quickly. They think a lot about it, for example in LA, because there is no place to park there and there are hills everywhere. We inspired each other and shared experiences."
Bikesharing to every city
"People tell me that thanks to Rekol they caught the state lines, arrived on time for an important meeting or overtook a line of cars when traffic was at a standstill," Vítek answers when asked what motivates him most to develop. For the next season, he wants to make the pink bikes available to other city districts, improve their service and allocate them specifically from unattractive places. He also plans to expand his franchise network, which currently includes Olomouc, Brno and Pardubice. His personal motto and Rekol slogan are: "Every city deserves bikesharing."
But Rekola is not the only project in which Vítek has been involved. During the recent Prague floods, he and his friends programmed a platform in a few hours to connect volunteers and the disabled. The Czech Red Cross and ADRA also joined the project almost immediately, and Czech Television used it in its news coverage. "On the very first day of operation, it had over 10.000 visitors. Within three days, 1000 volunteers had joined, and hundreds of people went to various events," he describes.
A lesser-known initiative is the website proukrajinu.cz, which was created during the escalation of events in February. Vítek describes his fears: "We were afraid that civil war would break out and we wanted to activate others. In the end, it wasn't needed and not many users visit the site. But that's actually a good sign."
Children of the housing recession
In addition to virtual space, Vítek Ježek tries to use the full potential of the public space. With the group Děti sídlištní recese (Děsír), he regularly organizes urban games, events, and flash mobs. They regularly use the metro, where bingo, LAN parties, and fake film shootings have already taken place.
"Through simple interventions, we break down stereotypes and barriers between people. When someone enters a car where a man in a suit is standing, a woman in a dress is calling out numbers next to him, and a few individuals are scribbling something on paper, they are at least surprised. But they gradually relax, become more involved, and in the end they often end up with the feeling that playing bingo on the subway is actually completely normal."
The activities are now being carried out by the fifth generation of Děsír. Although they are able to attract a large number of people at once, the effects are relatively short-lived. Vítek, like his colleague Ondřej Kobza with his pianos and chess tables, sees a long-term effect in placing physical objects in public space.
Source: probyznysinfo.ihned.cz
Social Impact Award
The Social Impact Award is an international program that supports young innovators in establishing socially beneficial projects. The incubation program offers education and mentoring to budding entrepreneurs who are trying to solve current social and environmental challenges with their projects.
