Deghri bike messenger service gaining traction on Beirut’s streets

After six months in business, Deghri Messengers s.a.r.l. – out to prove that bicycles are faster, cleaner and more reliable than cars and motorbikes – is firmly in the saddle as the first bike messenger company in the Middle East. Deghri employs two full-time messengers, two part-time riders, and one dispatcher from their AltCity base in Hamra. Starting with non-profit organizations as a core client base helped a lot, says Matt Saunders, one of the founders. “Particularly with Abaad, they turned out to be a very reliable client, and they introduced us to others so that we now have a fairly wide range of clients in the NGO field.” The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), based in Hamra, started to rely on Deghri in October last year, switching from a scooter-based delivery to the non-motorised Deghri modus. “Our decision was based on the fact that Deghri are bicycle-based