eBee CEO Ham leaves electric bike start-up to ‘local teams’, returns to Netherlands

Sten Van Der Ham, the CEO and co-founder of Kenya-based e-mobility start-up eBee, has announced he is leaving the electric bicycle company after four years.

Ham co-founded the start-up in late 2021 with Jaap Maljers, Isidoor Maljers and Joost Boeles.

The company, which has since expanded to Uganda and Rwanda, sells and rents e-bicycles and operates a fleet of last-mile delivery riders such as those in food delivery.

Ham began as a member of eBee’s board before taking up the chief executive role in April 2022. He said he is “leaving the business in the capable hands of the local teams.”

“It is a goodbye, but not a farewell, as my love for the continent and the people I met during the past years will never go away,” he said in a social media post.

Ham added that he is joining Dutch-based lithium-ion battery developer Nowos as chief commercial officer. Nowos designed eBee’s bike batteries.

His exit came just a month after eBee lost a tax dispute with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) over the classification of imported electric bicycles.

The e-mobility start-up faces a higher tax bill after the Tax Appeals Tribunal upheld KRA’s decision to classify its bikes as fully built units rather than assembly parts.

Importing bikes in parts for local assembly qualifies for a lower 10 per cent tax rate under the government’s preferential tariff code to support manufacturing.

But KRA held that eBee’s shipments included complete e-bikes (without only the batteries), which included motors integrated into rear wheel assemblies.

The tax authority said the shipments should thus attract a 25 per cent import, 16 per cent VAT, and excise duty at $81 per part (Ksh.10,490 at current exchange rates).

The tribunal further quashed eBee’s argument that sourcing batteries from local companies qualifies the imports as locally assembled products. It said the motor defines an electric bike, not the battery.

KRA initially demanded $53,302 (Ksh.6.9 million) in back taxes from eBee in November 2023. It then reduced it to $20,857 (Ksh.2.7 million) after the start-up applied for a review.