Micro South Africa - Micro Scooters

General information

The micro® story began when founder Wim Ouboter was 30 years old and living in Zurich. His favorite sausage shop was too far away to walk to, but not far enough away to drive to; 'I called it a microdistance,' he says. A former banker turned inventor, Wim decided he needed a new mode of mobility suited to traveling microdistances. Remembering the scooters of his youth, he set about making an adult scooter version that could fold up for better portability. With his characteristic mixture of a kid's desire to be cool and a grown-up's application of technology, Wim developed a scooter and worked on it until it was small enough to hide in his backpack. It took another 10 years (and the constant advice and encouragement of his wife Janine) to get the invention on the road.

Joined by a partner (now CEO of micro®), Hans-Peter Bolliger, the two attended trade shows in 1999 with their first professionally developed scooter. It was 3-wheeled and they called it a kickboard®, winning the Stuttgart Design Centre Design Prize and selling more than 9 million scooters by the end of 2000.

Following the introduction of the Kickboard, micro® introduced several other award-winning, best-selling 2-and 3-wheel scooters and kickboards, all of which can now be found at highest quality leading retailers worldwide. micro® continues to employ a combination of Swiss design and cutting edge technology, its formula for setting the standard for innovative, compact and portable lifestyle mobility products. No other Swiss designer has captured the world’­s imagination so quickly. Today Micro® continues to deliver quality and innovation and is recognized as the leading brand for quality scooters and kickboards.