Building Boston Cafe Bikers: Aman Shankardass’ Enlight Journey

Aman Shankardass (ENG’27) came into the Enlight Fellowship with a community he had already started building: Boston Cafe Bikers, an organization created after a cycling accident changed the way he experienced Boston’s streets. What began as a way to help people feel more confident riding through the city has grown into a community of nearly 2,000 people, with more than 100 group rides and over a million views across social platforms. Through Enlight, Aman learned how to turn that community into a sustainable organization, developing the business models, systems, and leadership structure to help Boston Cafe Bikers grow beyond his own involvement. Today, the group continues bringing people together through weekly rides to cafes, breweries, and ice cream shops while working toward a stronger culture of cycling in Boston. ----- Innovate@BU is a University-wide initiative to enable all BU Terriers to become drivers of innovation in their own lives, careers, and communities. Through its physical home on the Charles River campus, the IDG Capital Student Innovation Center, it provides a variety of signature programs that foster an entrepreneurial mindset and help students turn their ideas into something real. Learn more: https://www.bu.edu/innovate/about/