Zembo Issue 1: 8.0% Bond
Zembo Uganda aims to raise £200,000 from this bond issue and will use the funds to finance the Ugandan-based assembly and delivery of 200 electric motorbikes as a transition to replacing petrol motorcycle taxis known as boda bodas.
- Raised
- £18,350
- Investors
- 25
- Days to run
- 59
Accelerating Clean Mobility Across Uganda with Electric Motorcycles
Across Uganda, boda bodas are an essential part of daily transport, providing affordable mobility and livelihoods for thousands of riders. However, these contribute heavily to air pollution, carbon emissions, and high fuel costs.
For example, in Uganda’s capital Kampala alone air quality is amongst the worst in the world with transport contributing to 60% of its pollution and 12x higher than what the World Health Organisation considers safe.
Each Zembo bike avoids 6.3T of carbon emissions over a bike’s lifetime, and utilises the grid for its battery swapping operations.
Zembo has been selling and recharging electric motorcycle taxis in Kampala since 2018. The company provides locally assembled electric motorbikes alongside a battery-swapping service, allowing drivers to exchange depleted batteries for fully charged ones at Zembo stations.
1,000+ electric motorcycles already deployed
Helping commercial riders transition away from petrol-powered transport.
50 battery-swapping stations in existence
Providing convenient access to charged batteries across Kampala.
6.3 tonnes of CO₂ avoided per motorcycle
Estimated lifetime carbon emissions avoided, to be 1,246T for bikes funded through this bond.
Up to 40% lower operating costs in savings for riders
Reducing fuel expenditure for riders compared to conventional motorcycles.
About Zembo
- Directors name(s): James Obarowski (CEO) & Daniel Dreher (CTO)
- Founded: 2018
- FLocation: Kampala, Uganda
- Sector: Electric Mobility / Electric Motorcycles
- Uganda's largest provider of electric motorcycles and battery-swapping infrastructure
- More than 1,000 electric motorcycles deployed and over 1,000 active riders
- Operates more than 50 battery-swapping stations across Kampala.
- Locally assembles electric motorcycles in Uganda.
- Electric motorcycles can reduce rider operating costs by up to 40% compared with petrol alternatives
- Partners include Green Hub, Glovo and SafeBoda
- Recently secured €2 million of additional investment capital
What the Project Investment Will Enable
Key Product Information
Issuer: Zembo Motorcycle SMC Limited
Issuing Country: Uganda
Investment target: £200,000
Minimum investment: £50
Maximum investment: No maximum
Maturity: 12 months or upon repayment from purchase order proceeds, whichever comes first
Expected interest rate: 8% per annum
Withholding tax rate: 15% (applicable to UK residents who do not invest within an IF ISA)
Interest payment frequency: Single payment - after 12 months of issue date.
Capital repayment: Bullet repayment on maturity, with the ability for borrower to repay early with no penalty after 6 months
Financial Instrument: Promissory Note / Interest Bearing Bond
Security: Secured (see details in the Offer Document)
Meet the Zembo Team
Zembo is led by an experienced management team with expertise spanning electric mobility, engineering, manufacturing and business operations.
James Obarowski — Co-founder & CEO
James is an entrepreneur and emerging-markets operator with more than 20 years of leadership experience across Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Prior to Zembo, he held senior leadership positions at Pula, TechnoServe and The Coca-Cola Company. He has secured more than $76 million in funding during his career and brings extensive expertise in operations, business growth and scaling high-impact ventures.
Daniel Dreher — Co-founder & CTO
Daniel leads Zembo's technology and engineering development. He has overseen the design and deployment of Zembo's electric motorcycles, battery-swapping stations and battery management software. Most recently, he led the development of Africa's first locally designed automatic battery-swapping cabinet.
Rob Jeeves — Vice President, Technical Operations
Rob is a senior engineering and manufacturing leader with more than 15 years of experience building and industrialising complex hardware products across Africa and Europe. He oversees manufacturing, quality assurance and operational excellence across Zembo's technical operations.
Risks
You must read the offer document (provided below) where a statement of risks is presented, particularly in section 8 – Risk Analysis Overview
This page has been approved by Share In Ltd (“ShareIn”) (FRN 603332) on 17/06/2026 as a financial promotion for the purposes of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended). ShareIn’s approval of this page is limited to the communication of it by Lendahand Ethex Ltd (FRN 776908) as an appointed representative of ShareIn.