Rwanda’s transition to electric mobility offers significant opportunities for green growth, but only if it is inclusive. While the electric motorcycle (e-moto) sector is expanding rapidly, women and other marginalised groups remain underrepresented due to financial, cultural, and institutional barriers. Listening directly to women moto taxi drivers is therefore essential to understanding their lived realities and designing solutions that genuinely expand access.
To this effort, the Rwanda – E-Mobility project held targeted consultations with women e-moto operators to gather insights to inform the design of its Rebate Programme, led by the Rwanda Green Fund (RGF). The consultations explored constraints, needs, and opportunities to ensure that women are positioned not just as beneficiaries, but as key ambassadors of Rwanda’s e-mobility transition.
With facilitation support from Rwanda Electric Mobility (REM), Global Clearing House for Development Finance (GlobalDF), and ICLEI Africa, the RGF consulted with 58 women moto taxi operators, who provided the following key insights:
Key challenges identified
- Barriers to obtaining a driver’s license: Women face high training costs, limited study time due to childcare and household responsibilities, and repeated test failures. A lack of female riding trainers forces reliance on male trainers—several participants reported harassment. Training is also conducted on ICE motorcycles, which are harder to operate, despite women seeking licences specifically for e-motos.
- Cultural norms: Many families discourage women from riding, considering it a “man’s job.” Limited financial support for training and childcare, combined with dependence on male relatives for collateral, restricts women’s access to finance.
- Safety and harassment concerns: Women avoid riding at night due to the risks of harassment, drunk passengers, and accidents. Renting out motorcycles is also viewed as unsafe due to potential damage, fines, and income loss.
Additional insights
- Passenger preference for women riders: Female drivers reported that passengers who have ridden with them often prefer them for their safer driving style.
- Referral-based sector entry: Many women joined the industry through referrals from friends – an encouraging sign of the sector’s attractiveness and potential for growth.
- Strong enthusiasm for involvement: Women expressed eagerness to participate in consultations and contribute actively to the project’s design.
These exchanges formed a strong foundation for shaping the next phase of the Rwanda – E-Mobility project. Stakeholders identified potential women participants through community networks and explored different engagement models, including opportunities beyond direct motorcycle operation. The consultations also surfaced key training, eligibility, and support needs essential for safe and successful participation. Early discussions on financial considerations helped outline feasible parameters for the Rebate Scheme, while establishing continuous feedback channels to refine the approach. Most importantly, the consultations deepened understanding of the specific barriers women face; laying the groundwork for a more accessible, responsive, and inclusive programme.
Co-designing solutions: The Women’s E-Moto Workshop
Building on the consultations, the project hosted the Women’s E-Moto Workshop on 6 October 2025. The workshop brought together women moto taxi operators, sector leaders, banks, cooperatives, and e-moto companies to co-design practical, actionable solutions to the persistent challenges limiting women’s participation in the motorcycle sector.
The discussions produced clear insights, solution pathways, and emerging commitments that have directly informed the project’s Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) Action Plan. These outcomes will also guide how the project communicates about and advances women’s empowerment across the e-mobility ecosystem.
Practical pathways for an inclusive e-mobility transition
Stakeholders signaled readiness to support several concrete, women-focused solutions:
- Gender-responsive training models with women trainers, mentorship, flexible schedules, and licensing processes aligned with e-moto technology.
- Flexible, accessible financing with reduced collateral requirements, lower interest rates, simplified applications, grace periods, and guarantee-based loans.
- Strengthened maintenance ecosystems, including more repair hubs, training opportunities for women mechanics, and fairer repair conditions that reduce income loss.
- Targeted recruitment pathways for licensed women, those awaiting tests, and new entrants; including bicycle taxi operators transitioning to e-mobility.
- A centralised Operators Platform offering clear information on rebate eligibility, approved e-moto models, financing options, cooperatives, training centres, and nearby repair services.
The Rwanda – E-Mobility project sits at the intersection of finance, multilevel governance, low-carbon mobility, and GESI; demonstrating the value of combining technical assistance and financial support, a hallmark of the Mitigation Action Facility approach.
By placing GESI at the core of its work, the project is helping ensure that Rwanda’s shift to electric transport is equitable, people-centred, and truly transformative. The commitments and solutions emerging from the consultations and workshop will guide the next phase of the project; supporting a future in which no woman, no rider, and no community is left behind as Rwanda accelerates toward a cleaner, greener mobility system.