Tiny Shawnee bike shop keeps spinning thanks to a big-hearted man on a mission

In Gambia, Abdoulie Fatajo was king.

At least he felt like a king riding the mountain bike his brother sent from Germany. No one in his village of Salikenni had one in the 1990s.

Fatajo loved his bike; it cut down on the energy and time it took him to get to St. Augustine’s High School where he was a track star and honors student. The freedom his bike gave him was life-altering.

But, before long something sharp in the road popped a tire. Fatajo went to his dad, a father of 12, businessman in the textile industry and a preacher. Together they took it to the local bike shop and were told the repair would cost 250 Gambian dollars — enough to buy a month’s rice for a family.

No way, his dad ruled. But he would buy the tools for Fatajo to do the repairs himself.

Gambia is a sliver of a country in northwestern Africa, just over 4,000 square miles and a population under 2 million. It slices straight east through Senegal from the Atlantic.

“Bicycles are the main transportation for people in Gambia. Ninety percent rely on bicycles. My parents wouldn’t give me money for a taxi. They said, ‘Take your bike,’ so I had to learn to fix it.”

Learning how to make the repair was more pivotal than receiving the mountain bike.

“It took me over a week to fix the puncture — now it takes me five minutes,” said Fatajo, a man with a bright smile.

Not only did this new skill change his life, it changed his family’s and his neighbors’ lives.

“Everyone brought bikes to me.” During high school he scarcely had a day off work. He would be at school all day and arrive home to find ailing two-wheelers left against his house. (The same thing happens now at Hy5, but they’re usually left as donations.)

He worked into the night, only pausing to complete school assignments. In the end, charging 25 Gambian dollars — less than 25 cents in the United States — he made more money than anyone else in his family.

As an honors student he was eligible to study abroad. His mother knew some people who’d moved to El Dorado, Kan., and decided the Kansas City metro area would be good for him.

After graduating from high school in 1999, Fatajo moved to Kansas City and began taking courses at Penn Valley Community College. Later he transferred to Johnson County Community College.

Before he could finish college, his son Curtis was born, and making money became more pressing than earning a degree.

Fatajo had been shipping goods to family and friends in Gambia for years. He’d also been fixing people’s bikes for free. “I really liked what I was doing and I kept doing it. Then things became bigger and bigger,” he said.

In 2012, he opened Hy5 Traders at 12456 W. 62nd Terrace in Shawnee. His sister Ceesending and other family members operate a similar shop in Banjul, Gambia’s capital.

At first glance, it appears that Hy5 Traders is simply selling and fixing bikes, mostly refurbished but sometimes new, and consigning clothing and shoes.

The store is cramped and dark, especially on a rainy or snowy day when the bikes are all crammed in like canned fish. Fatajo explains how he turns their handlebars to make room for a surprising number of them between his tall shelf of shoes and the front window.

But much more is going on than bike sales and clothing consignment.

Just a few weeks ago, Fatajo and Curtis, now a seventh-grader and, for all intents and purposes, a partner in the business, packed up more than 360 bikes, 4,000 pairs of shoes, and a Toyota Camry in a 40-foot shipping container. The final destination was the sister’s shop in Gambia.

They do this every two to three months.

Curtis, who’s outgoing and friendly, said he most enjoys his work with customers. “I get to deal with people a lot. If I stay home I’m alone. When I’m here I can interact.” From time to time he also gets to help his dad fix the bikes.

The shipments can make up to 90 percent of their business.

Normally, a new bike in Gambia costs the equivalent of a year’s wages. At their Gambian shop, which draws customers from Senegal, Mali and Guinea-Bissau, the cost is a fraction of that for those who are able to pay. They often give bikes to students for nothing, Fatajo says.

This same mission of generosity is alive at Hy5’s Shawnee location. “We let them pay whatever they can toward a bicycle. People come from Wyandotte and Missouri — all over,” he said. Trade-ins are more than welcome; the customer just pays the difference.

Fatajo’s proud to point out that he doesn’t rely on donations — he usually pays something for the goods in his store. When not at Hy5, he’s either working part time at a nursing home, or he’s scouring ads and clearance sections for more merchandise.

The metro area’s Gambian community is small, with more living in Missouri than Kansas. But simply by word of mouth and Facebook — Fatajo said he can’t afford advertising — all manner of people are reaching out to help his cause.

He recently was contacted by a man in Texas who’d been at a family reunion where someone mentioned the Kansas shop. The man was closing his own store and offered to sell Fatajo 600 bikes for next to nothing.

Fatajo drove a truck to Texas, but it wasn’t big enough for all the bikes. The man loaded the remainder into his own truck and hauled them here himself.

This Texan, Fatajo said, was the kindest person he’s ever met; an extraordinary compliment coming from someone whose enthusiasm and generosity seem as boundless as his outreach mission.

This story was originally published March 8, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Tiny Shawnee bike shop keeps spinning thanks to a big-hearted man on a mission."