About us
We design and manufacture simple tech to address global problems.
Our story starts in Zambia
Burro was born out of a three-year co-design project with farmers in rural Zambia.
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Our purpose
Thirteen farmers in a rural Zambian village were selected to participate in a design research project. The intention was simple - to work together with farmers to co-design simple tech to make village life easier.
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The problem
The farmers chose the problem, and they decided they were tired of carrying heavy things on their head! Everything from water, to laundry, to firewood to their harvest had to be carried by hand.
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Prototyping
So we got busy designing trolley prototypes, from one wheels to three wheels, big and small. We tried it all. Literally.
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Testing
Farmers took prototypes home for testing and used them hard for actual transport tasks, whether it was for harvesting maize or fetching water.
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Feedback/Iteration
Every two weeks the group met to discuss the pros & cons of each design, what worked, what didn't and how to improve the designs. This process of testing, feedback & iteration continued for years.
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Final design
From 20 prototypes, participants chose the two that worked best - what is now the Burro and Flat-bed Burro.
Burro was born
Over the course of project we had discovered a huge mobility problem, and a product that really worked to address it.
Burro (Bush Barrow) was born to provide people everywhere access a product that genuinely changes peoples lives.