Gareth Nash, Co-operative and Mutual Solutions Limited, 11 th 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 sector Registration costs may also be covered Delivery 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 Consortia North West and Northern Ireland North East, Yorkshire and Humberside Midlands South (inc London) South West Scotland Wales Each consortia is made up of a range of co-operative business specialists

History Of The Co-operative Enterprise Hub Launched 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 2011 New 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 Ireland The oldest and largest consortium A team of 20 consultants in NW with a wide range of specialisms Capacity building a team of 8 consultants in NI as well as delivering the service Applications come in to CMS, as project manager Allocated to an expert assessor Their assessment and recommendations for support and delivery are put on an intranet for 3 days Then submitted to a Co-operative Action board member before work can commence

Some Statistics 1000 applicants from new start or existing co-operatives have been approved 160 specialist consultants operating throughout the UK. 92% of new start co-operatives helped through the Hub are still trading 93% of existing co-operatives helped through the Hub are still trading 89% of clients say that Hub support met or exceeded their expectations From , 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 HUB Loans – 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 Worker Consortia Community Consumer Multi-stakeholder Housing Credit Unions

BUSINESS ADVICE GIVEN Business Planning – General Finance and Accounting Marketing Legal and Governance HR and Personnel Business ICT

ELIGIBLE SECTORS Retail Wholesaling Manufacturing Agriculture Care Services Financial Services Arts Leisure And everything else

The Golden Ball, York Community pub in the community of Bishopshill inside York city walls Landlord and landlady seeking to retire – for four years! Pub going downhill, so the community decided to buy the remaining 12 years on the lease Share 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, Bolton The 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, Headingley A well established local whole food shop faced closure when the owner retired The community in Headingley, Leeds formed a co- operative to buy the shop Negotiated purchase price with owner of £80k, plus a time limited consultancy contract They 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 Capital costs of £315k – mixture of shares, loans and donations Hopefully move to build in summer 2013.

Alston Cybermoor Alston 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-operative Service 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 platform Cybermoor 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 Hub/Pdfs/NewPioneers_Online-Version-%20single- pages.pdf y-share-issues/

Gareth Nash, Co-operative and Mutual Solutions