In May, I joined the Greenwich Co-operative Commission as an ‘expert witness’, with a focus on strengthening co-operative development to encourage more growth in community energy, social care, and business succession. More about my presentation below.

My recent experience:

— A member of the Cooperate Islington consortium, and responsible for developing a governance strategy and business plan for a new co-operative development body 

— A co-author of a new research report on ‘social businesses’ for Hackney Borough Council to inform their economic development plan

My insights:

— Access to finance is crucial for all stages of business development, not just the startup phase. Too many councils and foundations offer micro-grants to new businesses without understanding the routes to finance to properly fund growth over time

— Public-philanthropic partnerships can attract match funding into the sector and region

— Business conversions into democratic ownership can also be identified by trade unions and local workers (not only be led by vendors)

My recommendations:

— Continue to use existing providers where support is shown to be effective

— Use other Co-op Development Bodies if none of the active London providers have capacity or capability

— The most effective advisors are practitioners who have direct experience in priority sectors - the ‘barefoot approach’

— Train up mainstream providers to better understand the co-op option

Main recommendation:

— Develop support and financial commitments for a multi-borough agency in London, as a piece of shared infrastructure that lowers costs for individual boroughs, and also increases access to expertise, funding, and so on.

See the presentation here.