Gareth Nash, Co-operative and Mutual Solutions Limited, 11th December 2012

The Co-operative Enterprise Hub (CEH)The CEH is a national programme funded by The Co-operative Group It provides up to 4 days free, specialist consultancy to any new start or

existing co-operative from Derry to Dover, from the Shetlands to Land’s End.

Following an online application there is an initial assessment visit and report

There are no exclusions based on geography or sectorRegistration costs may also be coveredDelivery consortia are organised regionally on a two year contract –

Northern Ireland is currently joined with the North West of England (the oldest consortium)

Regional And National ConsortiaNorth West and Northern IrelandNorth East, Yorkshire and HumbersideMidlandsSouth (inc London)South WestScotlandWales

Each consortia is made up of a range of co-operative business specialists

History Of The Co-operative Enterprise HubLaunched in 2007 by United Co-operatives as the C-Change

programme. First contract managed by CMS in the United trading area.

When United merged with The Co-operative Group, the programme was seen to be successful

Rolled out nationally.First contracts let in 2009 in 3 regions. All regions covered,

except NI, by 2011New contracts let in December 2011 and North West (as

the oldest consortium) given the job of developing the Hub service in NI.

How We Work In The North West and Northern IrelandThe oldest and largest consortiumA team of 20 consultants in NW with a wide range of specialismsCapacity building a team of 8 consultants in NI as well as delivering the

serviceApplications come in to CMS, as project managerAllocated to an expert assessorTheir assessment and recommendations for support and delivery are put

on an intranet for 3 daysThen submitted to a Co-operative Action board member before work can

commence

Some Statistics1000 applicants from new start or existing co-operatives have been

approved160 specialist consultants operating throughout the UK.92% of new start co-operatives helped through the Hub are still trading93% of existing co-operatives helped through the Hub are still trading89% of clients say that Hub support met or exceeded their expectationsFrom 2001-2011, 16 new co-operative Societies were registered in NI.

Since the Hub started in 2012, there have been 5 new co-operative societies in NI.

OTHER PARTS OF THE HUBLoans – the Hub has supported the development of a

specialist co-operative loan fund managed by Co-operative and Community Finance

Shares – in 2012, the Hub launched a community share fund to help underwrite the growing number of community co-operative share issues

Renewable Energy – in 2012, the Hub launched a programme to support renewable energy co-operatives with specialist environmental, technical and planning support

TYPES OF ELIGIBLE CO-OPERATIVE

WorkerConsortiaCommunityConsumerMulti-stakeholderHousingCredit Unions

BUSINESS ADVICE GIVEN

Business Planning – GeneralFinance and AccountingMarketingLegal and GovernanceHR and PersonnelBusiness ICT

ELIGIBLE SECTORSRetailWholesalingManufacturingAgricultureCare ServicesFinancial ServicesArtsLeisureAnd everything else

CASE STUDIES

The Golden Ball, YorkCommunity pub in the community of Bishopshill

inside York city wallsLandlord and landlady seeking to retire – for four

years!Pub going downhill, so the community decided to

buy the remaining 12 years on the leaseShare issue to raise £75k to buy out the lease,

plus to refurbish and restock the pub. Oversubscribed.

Community co-operative took over on 12 November

The first weekend: “We were so busy that we nearly ran out of beer.”

The Kitchen On Great Moor Street, BoltonThe Lakamka project was formed in 2008 in

Bolton, bringing together people interested in organic agriculture, vegetarian food and a refugee health eating project

They came up with the idea of a vegetarian/vegan cafe

With Hub support they developed the business plan and opened in 2010

A worker co-operative which provides seven jobs mainly to previously unemployed people and refugees.

Natural Food Store, HeadingleyA well established local whole food shop faced

closure when the owner retiredThe community in Headingley, Leeds formed a co-

operative to buy the shopNegotiated purchase price with owner of £80k,

plus a time limited consultancy contractThey undertook a community share issue to raise

£103k of equity, plus loan finance from Co-operative and Community Finance (CCF)

The 230 members elect a smaller board which oversees a professional manager

Harlaw Hydro, Edinburgh

A community owned water turbine on the Waters of Leith in Balerno, about 5 miles south west of Edinburgh.

Span out of the work of Balerno Village Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee

Been in development for about 2 years – these things just take time. They have just secured planning permission.

Aim to launch their share offer document in February 2013.Capital costs of £315k – mixture of shares, loans and

donationsHopefully move to build in summer 2013.

Alston CybermoorAlston is England’s most geographically isolated town In 2001, a wireless community broadband service was

installed in the town through a booster transmitter In 2003 this was taken over by a community co-operativeService users own the broadband service on the basis of

one member, one vote (unless they opt out) A new co-operative, Cybermoor Networks, was set up in

2011 to lay cable to Alston providing a broadband platformCybermoor networks is raising some of its finance through

a community share issue

Belfast Cleaning Co-operative

Belfast Cleaning Society brings together six women from both sides of the divided community in the Springfield Road area of the city

They had been talking about starting a co-operative for a couple of months when, in October 2011, the opportunity arose to clean up after a music festival

In a few hours they assembled a workforce, agreed a contract and started work

After this successful first job, they contacted the Hub for help in setting up as a co-operative

Now have taken on several clients

Some Resources

http://www.co-operative.coop/enterprisehub/

http://www.cooperative.coop/Campaigns/Ent

erpriseHub/Pdfs/NewPioneers_Online-Versio

n-%20single-pages.pdf

http://www.co-operativeloanfund.co.uk/

http://www.coopfinance.coop/borrow/com

munity-share-issues/

Gareth Nash, Co-operative and Mutual Solutions

07967 815321gareth@cms.coop