cooperatives

OCAD Craft Phases 2 & 3

OCAD Craft Phases 2 & 3

Craft, a new initiative by OCAD University, is an online marketplace where artists and designers can sell their work while developing skills to thrive in a just economy. As a platform cooperative, Craft is modelled as an equitable and democratic business collective that empowers, instead of exploits, creatives. In Phase 2, OCAD engaged 15 students in a 5-module co-design session seeking to determine how a platform like CRAFT might meet early-career artists’ needs. In Phase 3, through April 2023, OCAD is seeking to determine whether and how it will incubate Craft over the course of the next years (incorporation / launch phase) and the timeline to autonomy of the entity.

Equity crowdfunding for Co-operatives in Quebec

Equity crowdfunding for Co-operatives in Quebec

Equity crowdfunding is gaining traction amongst cooperative projects that promote social innovation. Have the financial tools of cooperatives evolved sufficiently to meet the needs and aspirations of the community? This analysis synthesizes information on current equity crowdfunding opportunities and barriers in a way that guides managers, directors and the government to make enlightened governance or policy decisions.

Montreal : an Ecosystem for Platform Coops

Montreal : an Ecosystem for Platform Coops

Might Montreal become a prime ecosystem for the development of platform coops? Capitalizing on Montreal’s thriving cooperative and start-up ecosystems, this project aims to bring two sectors operating in parallel to work together to benefit the development of platforms that are truly collaborative and constitute opportunities for the city’s economic activity.

INVEST Mongolia - Marketing Co-operative Governance & Start-Up

INVEST Mongolia - Marketing Co-operative Governance & Start-Up

Following a 2-year research and consultation process, MCTIC-affiliated co-operatives constituted a 2nd tier marketing cooperative aiming to prepare and market meat & animal by-products. In support to the eight founding cooperatives and the project team, I am reviewing and providing guidance on the business plan, organizational bylaws and governance structure to facilitate a successful launch and smooth, purpose-driven management of the cooperative.

SMart au Québec

SMart au Québec

Might Quebec’s labor & cooperative ecosystem welcome a co-operative model such as SMart’s to answer self-employed worker’s social benefit and social protection needs? Over 2 months, I lead a high-powered series of consultations, a public awareness campaign, and completed a feasibility study that gauged ecosystem readiness, stakeholder interest and culminated in a day-long co-design session with our most important partners : self-employed people themselves.

Business Conversion : Social Enterprise to Worker Cooperative

Business Conversion : Social Enterprise to Worker Cooperative

Might a conversion to the cooperative model support [or hinder] a social enterprise’s scaling and mission alignment? What shifts might be involved in operations, revenue model and governance? What about group culture & individuals’ power, status and personal responsibility for this conversion to succeed? It's wise to know what may lie ahead before everyone is involved.

INVEST Mongolia

INVEST Mongolia

Might a brokerage service for wool be a one-stop-shop solution, providing MCTIC with a long-term income stream and its member co-operatives with a value-added service that ensures their own sustainability? Through consultations with co-operatives, soum governors and various public and private actors on the wool value chain, I am co-developing a feasibility study. Project methodology blends field work and long-term mentorship to MCTIC, focusing on building human-centered design thinking capacity amongst their team. 

Systems for Better Health Zambia

Systems for Better Health Zambia

Might a nurses & midwives co-operative be a viable solution to the Zambian Ministry of Health’s current service delivery challenges and labor shortages? Through consultations with the MOH, nursing unions, co-operative sector representatives and co-design sessions with nursing students and retired nurses, I provided SBH with a landscape analysis detailing the system within which such a co-operative would be founded, the level of responsibility the project would be taking on, and steps (including resources and activities) towards implementation.

email | BONJOURHI@sgui.co