Electrician Yousuf Sardar was tired of walking three kilometres to college from home every day or when he was called in for repairs at a house far away.

Any other person would probably keep on walking or find transport, not Yousuf though. 

He kept thinking about a comparatively faster and less physically exhausting way of travelling. He came up with the idea of a solar powered bike. After squeezing in about an hour a day to work on the bike for six months and spending about Tk 17,000, he built his solar powered bike earlier this year.

He went for solar as it was cheaper to run.

Yousuf Sardar, who built the tricycle, in the capital. The photos were taken recently. Photo: Star

“It was purely aimed at having a convenient way of running errands. But besides serving its purpose, it made me the talk of the town within weeks,” said the 23-year-old man whose solar powered bikes and small trikes had won several awards in science fairs in Dhaka and Chittagong.

“The additional deputy commissioner of Chandpur even promised to provide support if I had a new project,” he said.

Yousuf's mother Momtaz Begum lost her ability to talk and walk after a cardiac arrest about 15 years ago. She used to spend most of her time in bed and it was really difficult for her to go from one part of the house to another.

“I thought about designing something for her that would have the functionality of a conventional wheelchair but be versatile enough for use in the home yards and road,” Yousuf said, explaining how he came up with the idea of a small solar powered trike.

He again started working doggedly on the project and after about four months and spending about Tk 20,000, he built a solar powered three-wheeler for his mother.

“It was evident that the unit made her life a lot easier than before. Also she was delighted to be able to control the thing,” he said.  

The trike he designed brought him the attention of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who gave him a letter of appreciation.

In July, when he was showing his trike at the “Civil Service in Development Innovation-2016” Summit in the capital, the Bhutanese prime minister, who was visiting Bangladesh at that time, was impressed by the low-cost unit and gave him a letter congratulating him.  

“The three-wheeler I built can be operated with one hand. But now I am contemplating one that can be controlled by any android device via Bluetooth. It would take me months to earn the money needed for the project” he said while talking to The Daily Star at his house on Bangabandhu Road in Chandpur town.

Yousuf's father Khwaza Ahmed Sarder and elder brother, who run roadside tea stalls in the town, are the breadwinners of the family.

His technical prowess and inventiveness cannot be traced to his education in humanities, which is marked with repeated breaks.

“I first dropped out of school when I was in class-V, my right arm broke in a road accident,” he said.

He added that he went back to school after about a couple of years and dropped out again after a couple of years later. Eventually, he passed SSC from Open University in 2010. After a break of five years, he went back to studies again and sat for HSC this year.

“I never received any training. I was just fascinated by electronic gadgets since childhood. I often designed different machines in my head,” he said.

However, after the success of the solar powered trike, he now wants to focus on things that can be useful for people with disabilities.

Earlier, he built two small solar powered trikes funded by the Upazila Parishad Chairman of Matlab Uttar upazila Manzur Ahmed. But this time it took him only about a couple of weeks to finish.

The trikes were given to two school goers who had lost ability to walk.

Riding his trike for over 20km, Raju, one of those boys aged around 15, went to The Daily Star correspondent in Chandpur to show his trike.

“The charge won't be an issue when I go back since there was plenty of sun when I came here,” said the boy.