Workshops for the co-op curious
We teamed up with Co-operatives West Midlands and Co-operatives UK – the national network body for co-ops – to offer a couple of free workshops to budding start-ups, community groups and co-op curious people in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands and Didcot in Oxfordshire.
Why co-ops?
All kinds of businesses and organisations operate as co-ops – pubs, energy suppliers, taxi firms, bookstores, savings and loans, community gardens, wine sellers, farms, sports clubs and much more. They are run by their members, who can be customers, employees, residents or suppliers – and who have a say in how the co-op is run, making it a fairer, more collaborative, and democratic way of doing business. Co-ops are also resilient as a business model. They are more than twice as likely to survive the early years of trading when compared to other start-up businesses!
Is starting a co-op right for you?
At this event in Wolverhampton local co-operatives shared their experiences, with insights and anecdotes about the challenges and benefits of starting and running a business co-operatively. Jo White was joined by Naomi Standen from York Supplies Community Society Ltd who successfully launched a share offer to buy a local hardware shop for their Kings Heath community in Birmingham, and Nick Greenhill from Longbridge based tech developers and workers co-op, Co-operative Web. Two very different businesses with different purposes and structures, at completely different places in their overall business development, but both strongly co-operative.
What people said
“Excellent introduction to the world of co-ops.”
“I came with a rough idea and with some doubts but saw my idea shaping up and passion growing as the workshop progressed.”
The power of community ownership
In Oxfordshire, our well-attended workshop, hosted by Alice Hemming, focussed on ‘The power of community ownership’ with some inspiring case studies. We are very grateful to our invited speakers from Sustainable Wantage, West Oxfordshire Community Transport and Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Village Stores, who generously shared their experiences of working co-operatively.
What people said
“I loved the inclusive nature of the talk – lots of room to share ideas and thoughts.”
“Very useful & inclusive event. Thank you for the knowledge of co-operatives and their uses.”
“How friendly it was (exceeding my expectations). No question was a silly one. So much information that will be so useful to the work we do.”
“Friendly and informative. Supper was a definite plus!”
The food did indeed go down well – thanks to local vegan business Planted Plates!
Both of these workshops were part of the Business Support for Co-ops programme, which offers up to six days’ expert support to new and existing co-ops, delivered by Co-operatives UK in partnership with The Co-operative Bank.
We run workshops regularly, often place or sector based, and details for upcoming events can always be found on our social media channels. Find out more about our work or subscribe to our newsletter. And of course, if you have a question you can always contact us directly.