Czech delegation learn about Welsh social enterprises
Jakub Plojhar from the Czech delegation discusses social enterprise with Wales Co-operative Centre Board Member Wynne Evans
Earlier today, Catherine Evans, Wales Co-operative Centre Marketing Manager, accompanied a delegation from the Czech Republic on a visit to Cardiff social enterprise Vision 21. Here’s her story…
I’m just back from spending the morning with a group of visitors from the Czech Republic. They’ve spent the week in Wales to find out about social enterprise. I went with them to Vision 21 in Cardiff, a social enterprise which provides training and work to people with disabilities.
The Czech Republic has a well developed tradition of
co-operatives, stemming back 160 years. Agriculture and housing are two sectors which are largely based on
co-operative models. However, the concept of social enterprise is much less well known, and the group (which included people from the South Bohemian Chamber of Commerce, a university economics department, local government and civic bodies) had come to Wales to find out more about how social enterprises can provide employment for people who are furthest from the main-stream labour market.Vision 21 was founded in 1987 and currently provides over 350 student placements each week. It has 16 different social enterprises to support training into the world of work and further learning for people with differing needs and styles. Its projects provide the students with the opportunity to broaden their life skills in real work settings.The building which I visited with the delegation from the Czech Republic was the Sbectrwm Centre in Fairwater, Cardiff.
The morning began with a tour of Sbectrwm led by Diana O’Keefe, manager of Vision 21’s ICT training project. Delegates were shown the pottery workshop, the community garden and the café, and had a chance to talk to some of the students based at the Centre.They then heard from Diana about the way in which Vision 21 works with people who have a wide variety of physical, emotional and social needs. It was interesting to learn how the organisation teaches soft skills – such as time management, self confidence and working independently – as well as basic literacy, numeracy and IT skills, and vocational skills.
Rhian Edwards from the Wales Co-operative Centre spoke about the co-operative and social enterprise sector in Wales, and explained how the economic challenges facing Wales are often best tackled by social enterprise and co-operative solutions. She highlighted the huge variety of sectors where co-operatives and social enterprises are thriving.
Simon Harris, Wales Director of Business in the Community, discussed the way in which the private sector can play a role in society by adopting responsible business practices. He outlined four pillars of responsible business – care for employees, care for the community, care for the environment, and responsible supply chains.
The Czech delegates asked plenty of questions about how social enterprise is supported and its relationship to government bodies. They were also curious about Wales’s relationship with the European Union, and the level of EU support for social enterprise.
It was a fascinating morning and great to showcase one of Wales’s best known social enterprises to an international audience.
Free seminar – Regenerating Communities through Co-operatives – Porth, Tuesday 30th April
Locally owned co-operatives such as Bron Afon Community Housing and RCT Homes do a fantastic job of providing local services and creating employment. If you’d like to know more about the co-operative approach and how it can be replicated in other communities in South Wales, book your place on this free seminar.
The Wales Co-operative Centre is keen to help communities across Wales to help themselves. We want to encourage the development of community co-operatives that engage with community members, provide vital services and create much needed jobs.
This seminar is aimed at people who are interested in finding out more or want to set up a community co-operative in their area.
Where and when?
• Porth, Too Good to Waste, Tuesday 30 April 2013, 10am – 1pm
This seminar will provide:
• Historical background to the co-operative movement
• Co-operative Principles and their relevance in today’s society
• Information on the pros and cons of developing a Community co-operative
• Issues to think about when setting up a community co-operative
• Information on suitable co-operative structures
• Examples of successful community co-operatives
Who should attend?
• Key decision-makers and policy advisors
• Community development workers
• Community activists
• Community First co-ordinators and support staff
• Community regeneration specialists
• Economic development specialists
• Grant givers and funding bodies
• Anyone interested in setting up community share schemes
Book your place now by completing our online booking form. Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment!
John Lewis Director joins Employee Ownership Event
Business success through planned business succession will be the topic at a series of breakfast events hosted by Wales Co-operative Centre this month. The events will explore issues around business exits, succession and utilising employee ownership as a tool for long term succession planning.
Employee ownership experts from the Wales Co-operative Centre will be joined in the Cardiff event this Tuesday (“3rd April) by Chris Earnshaw, managing director of John Lewis Cardiff. Chris will look at how Employee Ownership in John Lewis gives the group a competitive advantage over other businesses within the retail sector. He will explore how John Lewis manages its employee ownership structure, its engagement with its Partners, (staff) and provide an insight into the benefits employee ownership can give companies of every size.
Britain’s most famous employee owned company, the John Lewis Partnership recently announced a bonus worth 17% for each employee – equivalent to nine weeks pay. The Partnership currently employs over 84,000 people and has paid a bonus of at least 9% since 1999/2000.
Employee ownership is a concept that is becoming more and more popular in Britain due to the increased recognition of it as a means of sustaining growth and encouraging innovation within companies. In fact, according to industry experts Field Fisher Waterhouse by September 2012, an investment of £100 in employee owned companies in 1992 would have returned £661 compared to the same investment at the same time in the FTSE All-share which would have returned just £244.
Employee ownership can also be effective as a long term succession strategy. Several models can be used to allow business owners to sell shares directly to employees or to a trust working on behalf of the employees (similar to the ‘John Lewis Model’). The move towards employee ownership is flexible and can be utilised over a timescale that suits the owners, the employees and the company.
Aberystwyth biotech company Aber Instruments is employee owned. It’s Finance Director Barry Wise and his co-founders decided to pass on the business to their employees as part of a long term succession strategy. Barry retires from Aber Instruments this year and is joining the Wales Co-operative Centre at the breakfast events to talk about the benefits of this approach for business owners looking to retire or for business owners looking to grow their business.
Places for the Cardiff event and the events in Swansea and Newport can be booked online at http://www.walescooperative.org/business-succession-events or by calling 0300 111 5050
Newport residents invited to participate in Co-operative Housing survey
The Seren Group, which includes Charter Housing, is considering developing co-operative housing on part of the old Pirelli Factory site, just off Corporation Road in Maindee. Before the group moves forward with this idea, it 
needs to find out whether Newport residents would be interested in living in co-operative housing. Seren is working with the Wales Co-operative Centre and the Chartered Institute of Housing to identify whether there is any demand for this form of housing in the City.
What is co-operative housing?
Co-operative housing is a form of housing where members (either tenants or owners) democratically control and manage their homes and play an active role in the life of the communities they live in. Co-operative housing is very common in other parts of Europe. There are a number of different types of co-operative housing, either for rent or for sale but they have one fundamental thing in common: they put democracy and community ownership at the heart of housing.
Some of the advantages of co-operative housing are:-
• An affordable form of home ownership
• A democratic and safe community
• Long term financing and security
• Flexible to meet occupiers needs
• Potential of shared benefits of communal energy
What is the plan for co-operative housing in Newport?
Seren’s plan for the old Pirelli site is to create a community of around 200 homes which will be a mix of homes for rent and to buy. The vision is of an ‘urban village’; bringing the community benefits of village life to the heart of the City. Seren would like to include an area of co-operative housing in this development, if there are enough people interested.
Why are we reaching out to you and what should you do next?
We are trying to find out whether you are interested in knowing more about the development of the Pirelli site and whether you are interested in being a part of the co-operative Seren wants to support on the site.
If you are interested in finding out more, please go online using this web address
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/co-operativehousinginnewport.
You’ll be asked to answer a few questions about yourself, your family, your current housing situation and to provide your contact details.
We will then write to you with more information about co-operative housing and an invitation to attend an event to tell you more about Seren’s plan and the types of co-operative housing that may be possible.
If you have any questions about this matter, please contact Dave Palmer from the Wales Co-operative Centre on 029 2055 6169.
Thank you.
Swansea social enterprise celebrates winning prestigious procurement award
Swansea training and consultation co-operative, Dynamix has won a prestigious award for procurement at the Welsh National Procurement Awards in Deganwy, North Wales.
The procurement awards aim to highlight the good practice of both procurement teams who purchase services and goods for the public sector, and the businesses that supply them. Dynamix won the ‘Most Improved Supplier Award’ at the ceremony which recognises a supplier who has made use of the support services to improve their tendering methods and thereby improved their chances of winning public sector contracts.
Amy Sanders
Dynamix was set up in Swansea 23 years ago and has built up a reputation for working with children, young people and adult community members and the professionals that support these groups.
Amy Sanders is one of the directors of Dynamix. She commented,
“The decision to give the award to Dynamix is a tremendous opportunity to both shine a light on social enterprises and how they can make a meaningful contribution to supply services to local authorities and public bodies.
With such a thriving social enterprise sector in Wales, we believe that a social enterprise succeeding in the Procurement Awards is a sign that the proportion of services supplied to the public sector by social enterprises is growing. Social Enterprises need to be recognised for the additional benefits they bring to the public sector. As award recipients, Dynamix hope we can continue to advise how procurement can be done in a way that values social enterprises and does not disadvantage them.
The tendering process is seen as such an obstacle for some social enterprises and Dynamix are so proud that we have been recognised for the enormous hard work we have invested in order to be able to meet the exacting requirements so that we can compete on an equal playing field. It has really paid off in Dynamix’s ability to secure significant contracts and broaden our work.”
www.shares.coop – the marketplace for community shares
The consultancy.coop, a small Co-operative Development Body (CDB) based in south Wales has recently set up a new website aimed at helping new and growing co-ops with their Community Share Issues.
Alex Bird, one of the partners in the co-op, realised after working with a number of community co ops trying to finance projects through share issues, that whilst they could market themselves easily to local people, communicating to the wider public wasn’t easy on a small budget. He and his colleagues have worked with community shops, community centres, pubs, football and rugby clubs, festivals, food co ops, bike shops, off-road cycle centres, recycling projects, gyms and energy co ops, and all had difficulty marketing their share issues. Many didn’t proceed with a share issues because they couldn’t see how they would get sufficient share sales and the activists involved looked to other sources of finance such as grants and loans.
Some projects they’ve worked with have been very creative in their share issues, linking up with credit unions and CDFIs to enable people to get lines of credit or save up to buy shares, but they still find it difficult to contact their diaspora, and you can only raise so much from local people.
Many projects have a wider appeal than just their immediate neighbourhood, and there is a large body of people across the UK and further afield who don’t have a project nearby but would like to support one. Real ale pubs, vegetarian and vegan shops, football clubs, and of course ecological and green energy projects are examples of projects with a broader appeal, but many such projects weren’t getting through to their potential share buyers, and at times weren’t hitting their finance raising targets.
After many discussions about who wasn’t doing what and whose job it was to sort out this problem, and why “they” should be doing it, consultancy.coop did what co-operators always do in the end – got on with it themselves.
Using the well-known open source software from WordPress and with the help of Co-operatives UK Internet Services they have set up a .coop site from their own resources.
The new website is up and running at http://www.shares.coop and features all the Community Share Issues they know about free of charge in a classified style listing, plus lots of advice and guidance. The site is presently entirely self-funding, although as it develops they hope to bring some sponsorship on board in order to raise income and grow the site, so they offer paid for features as well as the basic free listing.
Help them improve their SEO and get up the Google ratings by visiting the site, telling your friends, blogging, tweeting and linking your website to theirs.
• Cost to you £0
• Principle 6 credibility – Priceless
Centre staff have the key to housing challenges at TAI 2013
This week sees Wales’ ‘premier housing conference and exhibition’ swing into town.
Held across Cardiff City Hall and the nearby Hilton Hotel, TAI 2013 will look at current challenges in the Welsh housing sector as well as future opportunities.
Over three days – Tuesday to Thursday – a number of keynote addresses and workshops will be held, with the Wales Co-operative Centre among the organisations represented. 
On Wednesday, our Co-operative Housing Project Manager Dave Palmer will be running a workshop that will look into this emerging theme. Dave will provide an outline of the eight ‘pioneer’ co-operative housing projects across Wales, along with details of research that is being carried out into the topic and information on three ‘focus’ projects in Cardiff, Newport and Llanelli.
On the same day, Jocelle Lovell – Project Manager of our Tackling Homelessness through Financial Inclusion project – will be involved in a session that will look at the potential impact of the forthcoming Welfare Reforms and what they mean from a financial inclusion and social housing perspective.
We will also have staff on an exhibition stand at the event (Hall B, stand 42), on all three days, promoting the work of the Centre, including the recently launched Money Made Clear Wales website. If you’re attending the event, find out how the Wales Co-operative Centre is working with the housing sector in Wales and how we can support you and your organisation, to lay the foundations for future success, across the projects that we run.
