impact meetup: today's cooperatives

Welcometo Impact Meetup on today’s

cooperativism ● What is cooperative?● What’s emerging in the

cooperative world?● What are the success

factors for modern coops?

24.2.2016Kristiina Ullgrén

What is a cooperative?International Co-operative Alliance:

“A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united to meet their economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled enterprise”

The basic cooperative model

Member

Share(Osuus)

The member joins the cooperative

The member buys a share.(Merkitsee osuuden)

Shares make up the cooperative equity.

€Employee

Employee

MemberMemberMember

MemberMember

Member

The members own and control the cooperative in a democratic way: one vote per member.

Types of cooperativesProducer cooperatives

Consumer cooperatives

Workers’ cooperatives

Banks, other financial coops

Mutual insurance

Who are the members?

What is their economic incentive?

Which business?

Which markets?

The waves of cooperativism

Out of the poverty

Profitable growth

Coops as social enterprises

What makes cooperatives relevant today?

What is emerging?Platform cooperativism

Work cooperatives

New consumer coops, community farms

Local service cooperatives

Platform cooperativismWhat if… Uber would be owned by the drivers?

Meaning that the drivers would

● set the business logic, working terms and conditions, etc.● decide how the profits are shared or invested

Awesome customer experience: taking the customer service platform to the cooperative ownership

The ownership matters

Case 1: the Women’s cooperative New York based worker coop

Cornell Tech is developing the platform: an app that helps scaling the business

“Coopify app connect low-income workers to the “digital sharing economy” not as precarious cogs in an impersonal

machine, but on their own terms.“

Case 2: Online marketplaceFairmondo, Germany

Anyone can trade

Eco and fair trade, local producers and businesses

The platform is built and maintained by the coop

Your examples?

Success factors for the cooperativesCooperative democracy

ICT

Financing

Ecosystem and networking

Cooperative democracyThe members

● One vote in the members’ meeting

● Active participation?

The cooperative

● Organization and management

● Self-organization? ● Participatory leadership?

ICT and cooperativesICT is integral part of almost any business

Cloud: less costs, more accessibility and choice

How good are the coops in applying the ICT in their business?

● Scaling● Customer acquisition and service

Digital innovation, blockchain

Loomio

Financing the cooperativeWhat is the business model?

What is the capital needed for?

The most obvious sources of capital are

● the member investment (shares, loans, sweat)● paying customers, revenue

External capitalHow to make the investment attractive, while preserving the democratic member control?

● Equity: cooperative shares● Loan● Grants, public funding, EU funding

New instrumentsImpact investing in cooperatives

Crowdfunding

● Pre-sales: reward-based● Investments: Loan or equity based

Platform for the cooperative, social and community purposes?

Ecosystem and networks for cooperativesEcosystem: training, supporting services, financing, legal services, accounting, hubs, incubators and accelerators, platforms, etc.

Do the coops fit into the current startup ecosystem?

What are the needs for the ecosystem of coops?

What are the needs for networking among the peers?

Thank you!www.impactor.fi

kristiina.ullgren@impactor.fi

+358 50 5752530

https://www.facebook.com/ImpactorConsulting/

@impactor_fi