Co-op News (August 2019)
What is co-operative culture - and why does it matter? This issue looks at how co-op values intersect with the values in organisations, across movements and between countries. Plus 100 years of the Channel Islands Co-operative – and how the new Coop Exchange app is tackling the capital conundrum.
What is co-operative culture - and why does it matter? This issue looks at how co-op values intersect with the values in organisations, across movements and between countries. Plus 100 years of the Channel Islands Co-operative – and how the new Coop Exchange app is tackling the capital conundrum.
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shift the initial losses from workers to investors<br />
– and in exchange, give a share of the profits to<br />
them when they become profitable,” he says. These<br />
shares would be ‘traded’ on a ‘<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong> Exchange’.<br />
“We have spoken with co-<strong>op</strong>erative lawyers<br />
to address questions raised and make sure the<br />
legislation around investor shares is watertight<br />
while remaining true to the co-<strong>op</strong>erative principles.<br />
And other co-<strong>op</strong>eratives are on board too, from<br />
worker co-<strong>op</strong>s and retail societies up to the ICA.”<br />
Stephen gave a presentation on <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong> Exchange<br />
to the ICA board in June. “Ben Reid introduced<br />
the agenda point and explained his role in the<br />
organisation,” he said, “and we demonstrated<br />
how <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong> Exchange addresses many of the calls to<br />
action in the ICA’s own official documents.”<br />
These documents include The Capital <strong>Co</strong>nundrum<br />
for <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives paper (2016) and the Survey of<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Capital (2015), which said: “Nonvoting<br />
shares can be used to preserve member<br />
democratic control while creating one or more<br />
classes of shares that can attract member or nonmember<br />
investment.” The document went on to<br />
predict a mechanism similar to the one pr<strong>op</strong>osed by<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong> Exchange: “With advancing technology, this<br />
can be easily provided through an online platform,<br />
creating a private electronic marketplace.”<br />
The ICA’s Blueprint for a <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative Decade<br />
also highlights that co-<strong>op</strong>s need capital if they are<br />
to be established, grow and flourish – and that the<br />
end aim should be secure reliable co-<strong>op</strong>erative<br />
capital while guaranteeing member control.<br />
Stephen adds: “The ICA was very receptive to<br />
the idea, and agreed to create a working group<br />
to fully evaluate <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong> Exchange under the ICA<br />
audit committee. We h<strong>op</strong>e the audit committee will<br />
report back to the board at the General Assembly in<br />
Rwanda in October.”<br />
<strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong> Exchange is itself a co-<strong>op</strong>erative, based<br />
in Malta, and takes a small commission from<br />
investments above a certain threshold. To put <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong><br />
Exchange into practice, it has built an app. “Unlike<br />
any other co-<strong>op</strong>erative financial institution, the<br />
app allows participation across time and space,<br />
from everywhere in the world at any time of the<br />
day, with a few clicks,” says Stephen.<br />
“At the end of the day, we want an economic<br />
system where stakeholders can democratically<br />
hold accountable those who make decisions<br />
affecting them.<br />
“We want to turn business from a force that<br />
suppresses democracy into a force that supports<br />
it, and we want the internet to be a space where<br />
users own the value they create, instead of being<br />
products that are sold. Our mission is to beat the 1%<br />
at their own game and do so in a way that changes<br />
the rules by making it fair for the 99%.”<br />
DAME<br />
PAULINE<br />
GREEN<br />
[Former MEP, president<br />
of the ICA, And Secretary<br />
general of <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>eratives UK]<br />
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED<br />
IN COOP EXCHANGE?<br />
I met Stephen in Malta – I’m a Maltese citizen and was<br />
already doing work with the Maltese co-<strong>op</strong> movement. One<br />
of the key issues during my presidency of the ICA was how<br />
to secure capital for existing, and start up co-<strong>op</strong>s, so <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong><br />
Exchange was immediately of interest to me. I am now on<br />
the board.<br />
WHY DO YOU BELIEVE IN THIS PROJECT?<br />
Because for both new and existing co-<strong>op</strong>eratives, finding<br />
the capital to grow is hard. Managing the tension between<br />
finding investors and ensuring the rights of member-owners<br />
aren’t eroded is a balance, and many co-<strong>op</strong>s around the<br />
world have foundered when they haven’t got that balance<br />
right. All co-<strong>op</strong>s struggle with this. How do you make sure<br />
someone putting money into a co-<strong>op</strong> doesn’t remove<br />
members’ right to decide? I firmly believe the devel<strong>op</strong>ment<br />
of <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong> Exchange is a significant <strong>op</strong>portunity to find<br />
a way to ease that tension.<br />
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES IN MAKING IT A REALITY?<br />
The challenge is making sure the co-<strong>op</strong> movement knows<br />
what <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong> Exchange is and understands it. I’m really<br />
delighted to have a chance to help with that.<br />
The issue of capital will always be a dilemma, but <strong>Co</strong><strong>op</strong><br />
Exchange addresses this. It’s a modern, clever, innovative,<br />
digital approach that keeps co-<strong>op</strong> ownership in the hands<br />
of members while allowing a co-<strong>op</strong> itself to raise capital<br />
and grow. It’s a great project and product and Stephen<br />
himself is committed and determined. He believes he can<br />
make a contribution to co-<strong>op</strong> growth – and to poverty<br />
reduction too, as it is also a way of supporting working<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le to invest small amounts in co-<strong>op</strong>s, giving them<br />
a return that will enable them to grow their own incomes.<br />
u Find out more at WWW.COOP.EXCHANGE<br />
AUGUST <strong>2019</strong> | 45