Melburnians did not take kindly to the dockless bike share scheme oBike. The distinctive yellow bicycles were dumped, vandalised and even thrown in the Yarra before they abruptly disappeared from the city's streets a year after first arriving.

But while Melbourne – and many other cities – thoroughly rejected oBike, one entrepeneur is hoping to use the company's failure as a rare chance to provide free transport for poor children in Myanmar.

Less Walk founder Mike Than Tun Win with a container of oBikes.

"I want to help solve this first world problem with a third world opportunity," said Less Walk founder Mike Than Tun Win, an IT investor from Myanmar.

After the Singapore-based oBike went into liquidation last year, Mr Than came up with an idea: why not buy up the bikes on the cheap from the junk "graveyards" and then repurpose them so that children in his country could ride to school.