Helping Blake House Cooperative plan for a sustainable future

Blake House Cooperative is an award‑winning, values-driven filmmaking co‑op. As they looked to increase their client base and establish a regular stream of work, they applied to The Hive to receive peer mentoring support, working with a co‑operative mentor from the creative industries, to receive guidance at a critical stage in their development.

Blake House was matched with Calverts, a communications design, print and production house in east London specialising in branding, content and design. Having access to an experienced mentor like Calverts was “essential for the development of our co‑op,” says Simon Ball, co‑founder of Blake House Cooperative.

“It’s helped us address areas we haven’t yet had chance to. We sat down with several members of Calverts who work in different departments and basically troubleshooted our co‑op.”

Peer mentoring is available as part of The Hive support for groups actively planning a new co‑operative business or organisation, or who are ready to set up and incorporate as a co‑operative.

“Getting paired with an experienced mentor is something I would say is essential to the development of a start up co-op,” says Simon. “All businesses go through problems during their startup phase and being able to tap in to a wealth of experience and knowledge specifically tailored to the worker co‑op sector allows you to take the lessons learnt by others and apply them to your own business, saving time and energy and allowing your development to progress much faster.”

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Image © Jana Lohde