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Supporting fair and ethical business in partnership with The Co-operative Bank

Business Support – convert to a co-op

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Business support for co-ops – convert to a co-op

Are you an existing business wanting to become a co-op? We can provide up to six days of tailored support to help you.

We can provide up to six days of tailored support with a co-op expert to help you convert your organisation to a co-op.  Alongside expert advice, we will pair you with an existing co-op for half a day of peer-support. 

You might want to give more power and ownership to your employees by introducing a more equitable distribution of responsibilities and rewards. This may be in response to succession issues where existing owners are looking to retire. Or it may be about the business becoming more effective in how it is run through democratic ownership. 

Or you might be a business looking to convert to community ownership. Community buyouts are increasingly common in the UK, with local groups running existing shops, pubs, football clubs, piers and transport services. Most of which are delivered through setting up a community co-operative. They may arise when a community is driven to rescuing a local business threatened with closure or where the community feels poorly served by the business. 

The business support can be tailored to your specific needs and arranged around your own schedule as long as it is delivered within six months of applying. If this is for you, please read carefully the guidance provided and apply for support via our online form. We look forward to receiving your application! 

This support is made possible thanks to our partnership with The Co-operative Bank – supporting fair and ethical business together.

How to apply
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This support helped us to navigate the process of purchasing the business. We gained a better understanding of what it means to be worker-owned and how best to make collective decisions on all aspects of running the shop.
– Natural Foodstore, Diss
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