Roam Air Powers Boda Girls to Transform Maternal Health in Rural Kenya

• Boda Girls break gender barriers by becoming motorcycle taxi riders dedicated to saving lives.
• Roam, Tiba Foundation, and Matibabu Foundation join forces to drive women’s empowerment and healthcare innovation.
• Adoption of Roam Air electric motorcycles cuts costs, lowers emissions, and improves reliability.
• Over 50 Boda Girls now deliver mothers, medicine, and vaccines, transforming maternal healthcare access in rural Kenya.

In a remote yet vibrant community at Ukwala location, Ugenya Sub-county in western Kenya, approximately 430 kilometres from the Kenyan capital Nairobi, access to healthcare has long been dictated by distance, affordability, and gendered barriers to mobility. Women frequently delivered children on the roadside, at water points, or in makeshift settings, earning the newborns names like "Oyoo" for a boychild and “Ayoo” for a girl child, which in Dholuo language means roadside, or "Ooko" and “Aoko” for births near rivers. These names, beyond cultural identifiers, are reminders of systemic inaccessibility and the everyday risks faced by expectant mothers.

The turning point began not just with a policy shift, but a radical reimagining of transportation and empowerment. The seeds were planted when Dan Ogola, founder of Matibabu Hospital, observed that many women coming in to seek employment, often as cooks or cleaners at the hospital, were the same women who struggled to access healthcare themselves. “ This dream started when I was just 7 years old, when we lost my blood brother at only 2 months due to the inaccessibility of health facilities around,” he starts.

Ogola is the son of the soil, having been born and bred in Ukwala at a village called Lifunga K’Obiero. Supported by the American nonprofit Tiba Foundation and Matibabu Foundation, Ogola launched a training program to turn the women into motorcycle taxi drivers, popularly known as boda boda, offering them an unconventional path to dignity, income, and purpose. Thus, the Boda Girls were born.

“It was very challenging when young girls would be brought to the hospital with male boda boda riders, and within a few months, you would see them pregnant, and this highly encouraged them to drop out of school to take care of their children,” Ogolla points out.

At first, many women joined in secret. Some, like Monica Atieno, hid their ambitions from disapproving spouses. Others, like Nelly Extin, who is now 21, enrolled out of desperation, having dropped out of school after getting pregnant, and ended up babysitting her child at home. Despite never having ridden motorcycles before, they mastered mechanics, road safety, and self-defense. Their mission wasn’t just transport, it was maternal health.

They began shuttling pregnant women to checkups, responding to labour emergencies, and in doing so, redefined the role of women in a male-dominated profession.

As the Boda Girls gained traction, electric motorcycles entered the picture. The electric mobility company based in Kenya, named Roam, saw an opportunity to scale the initiative sustainably. With the support of Tiba and Matibabu Foundation, Boda Girls began replacing fuel motorcycles with quiet, eco-friendly electric motorcycles.

As told by the Boda Girls, these new electric motorcycles made in Kenya not only reduced operational costs and environmental impact but also strengthened the economic independence of the women who ride them. 

“As women in the community, we were once excluded from the workforce, but we have now become income earners, mobile health ambassadors, and trusted community liaisons,” says Nelly, who is one of the Boda Girls.

As told by Diane Dodge, the executive director of Tiba Foundation, the involvement with electric motorcycles was more than logistical. “We were looking for an electric motorcycle with the design tailored to meet the specific needs of these healthcare missions. We also aimed at looking for motorcycles that have enhanced comfort for long rides for pregnant women, with battery ranges that could cover vast rural distances, and we saw this when we did a pilot with Roam,” says Diane.” The maintenance simplicity allowed women to focus on the mission, not the mechanics. Roam has also worked to ensure that the batteries come with a charger, which makes it easy to charge anywhere that there is access to electricity.”

According to Ogolla, the transformation unfolded across four key principles—first, availability, ensuring that a fully equipped health ecosystem was reachable. Matibabu, with support from global volunteer doctors and local staff, became a center where high-quality medical care was within reach and financially viable. “Second, accessibility, which the Boda Girls epitomized. They were not merely drivers but bridges between isolated homes and life-saving care. The electrification of their transport with Roam motorcycles furthered their reach while supporting environmental goals,” he says.

“Third, affordability, a product of Tiba’s philanthropic model, where international partnerships subsidize costs. Complex medical procedures are now accessible to those who could never afford private care. And fourth, acceptability, a commitment to cultural respect. Traditional birth attendants were not displaced but trained and integrated, recognizing their deep-rooted presence in the community,” he adds.

Together, these pillars created ripple effects. Girls who once feared pregnancy now receive support. Mothers who once gave birth in the bush now arrive at clinics with dignity. Even initially skeptical husbands, like Atieno’s, came around after witnessing the financial transformation, some even learning from their wives.

The Boda Girls now number over 50, with some of them riding Roam’s electric motorcycles. Their pink jackets and purple leather seats signal something far greater than fashion—they symbolize a revolution in access, equity, and dignity. And they do more than ride. They train others, teach self-defense, and inspire schoolgirls to dream bigger.

Their impact doesn’t stop at transport. They now act as educators in reproductive health, peer counselors for gender-based violence survivors, and logistical aides for medical outreach teams. They assist in mobile vaccination drives, ferry essential medicine to hard-to-reach clinics, and support maternal follow-ups long after childbirth. Each journey they undertake is not just a commute but a step toward reshaping public health outcomes in underserved regions.

Still energized from the launch of the newest Boda Girls site, this time with partners at MED25 Hospital in Homa Bay County, the initiative has now set its sights on a broader mission: expanding across the Nyanza region. This milestone is more than a delivery of motorcycles; it’s a delivery of health access powered by bold women trained to safely transport girls and women to life-saving services like prenatal care, cancer screenings, immunizations, and family planning, combining women’s empowerment with a commitment to going green. From the warehouse to the community, from training sessions to real impact, Boda Girls are on the move. Thanks to partnerships like MED25, the future of health access in Homa Bay and beyond is brighter than ever.

In partnership with innovation leaders and with the unrelenting courage of local women, this initiative is changing healthcare while transforming society. What began as a ride to the hospital is now a movement. A movement powered by electric wheels, but driven by something far stronger: hope. And with every kilometer traveled, that hope grows louder, stronger, and more electric.

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