The Spanish Confederation of Worker Co-operatives (COCETA) has launched a website that provides support to those interested in the worker co-operative model.
The website Emprende.coop was developed with support from the Ministry of Employment and Social Security as part of their Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment. Through this portal, those interested can gain access to a number of guides that explain how to start a co-operative venture.
The online platform contains information on how to set up a co-operative enterprise and develop a business plan and includes a number of resources and documents.
As well as informing the public about the co-operative model, the website also contains a link to a free service that helps prevent risks at work. The free service is available through the National Institute of Safety and Hygiene for small enterprises and those self-employed.
Another important topic covered by the online platform is legislation. The website contain details about the legislative requirements in each autonomous region. Employees of businesses in crisis or on the verge of bankruptcy can also use the portal to see how they could take over the enterprise by setting up a worker co-operative.
COCETA argues that due to their specific model, co-operatives show more flexibility when it comes to adapting to different situations. A number of videos and multimedia tools are also available on the website. They explain various aspects of the co-operative model.
Referring to the new website, president of COCETA, Juan Antonio Pedreño, said: “More and more young people that try to start a venture in the business world and bet on the co-operative model, that has consolidated en the last years as a response to youth unemployment. But in addition to that it is an enterprise model that according to the figures published by the Employment Ministry has destroyed 10% less jobs than other traditional enterprises. If this had been the case for all enterprises, around 1.5m would not have been lost.”
Photo: interractive map showing co-operative organisations in each region.
