Interview with Richy Duggan, Bike Recycling Hub
Richy Duggan from Sunderland Community Action Group is part of the 2025 Profit for Good programme. The enterprise is a workshop and recycling facility focusing on providing refurbished or free bikes to the community, promoting active travel, and offering bike maintenance, and aiming to build a stronger cycling culture in Sunderland.
Q: What made you want to explore enterprise through Profit for Good?
A: Grant funding is getting harder to secure. We had great ideas, but without grants we couldn’t bring any of them to life. I realised something had to shift. After 35 years in the charity sector, I needed a mindset change, and the Profit for Good model really spoke to that. It helped me see that trading and charitable work can sit side by side.
Q: How do you find balancing charity and enterprise?
A: At first it was difficult. In my head, the two things didn’t mix. But I’ve learned they absolutely can. Right now, the grant-funded side is helping us get the enterprise off the ground, and long term the enterprise will feed straight back into the charity. One supports the other.
Q: What have you learned from Profit for Good?
A: Loads. It’s totally reset how I think. Simple things like understanding social media as a tool for telling our journey. I’m terrible at it, but I now see how powerful it is. It’s pushed me to think more like a business owner and less like someone waiting on grants.
Q: What are your long-term plans?
A: We’ve got a three-year business plan. I honestly thought we’d make a loss in year one, but we’re already ahead of target, which gives me real confidence. By year three, we’ll be profitable enough to put money directly back into community work.
We’re expanding our work with corporates, the local authority, and contracts. And we want to recycle every bit of a bike. Rubber is the next frontier: tyres, tubes, everything. We’ve already been prototyping things like planters for kids’ projects using old wheels. I want this to succeed for the next generation.
Q: What impact is your enterprise is having?
A: Sunderland’s got everything you need to get out on a bike – the coast, the river – many people just don’t know what’s on their doorstep. We’ve helped people rediscover it. So many people.
We work with a lot of people who are mentally or physically unwell. There’s the woman with a lung disease who hadn’t been on a bike in 30 years. Her doctor told her to exercise, so she came to us. Through our Bike Buddies programme she’s now cycling weekly, her breathing’s stronger, and her mental health has improved.
Two Ukrainian guys arrived in Sunderland to escape the war, not knowing the city, never mind the beach, the river and everything like that. We invited them down, gave them some bikes and took them out. Now they’re riding, getting out there and socialising with other people. So that’s really worked for them.
We work with kids on the verge of exclusion too. We teach them bike maintenance and take them out on group rides. Some gained Level 2 bike-maintenance qualifications, which they were really over the moon with – and the school was buzzing. They’ve got a good qualification.
Q: Some people say enterprise distracts from charitable purpose. What do you think?
A: I don’t agree. As long as you stay rooted in your community, enterprise strengthens your mission. People here know us, trust us and understand that any income goes straight back into supporting them.
Profit for Good’s been a big eye-opener. After decades in the voluntary sector, this has completely regenerated how I think. I can’t wait to keep going.
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Enterprise Profit for Good Sunderland
