To Do list

In order to get the co-op off the ground we need some statutes: suggestions please

We'll need a facebook page, a twitter page, an eshop, fora and chat spaces for each category; customers, suppliers, investors, workers and friends.

We need a membership management system to handle incoming and outgoing co-op members.

We need a erp pack, and some accounting.

A Youtube video would be good publicity for green commuting and for the new "social coop" format.

The range of scooters needs to be enlarged, equipment like helmets and dry suits, training courses for youngsters.

Oh and of course we need Insurance, for the bike riders and for the business.

If you feel inspired to take part in this new way of doing business, creating value for the whole community, reducing greenhouse emmissions (especially with the photovoltaic charging station in the pipeline), then put your vote and log yourself as a follower and i'll be in contact.

j

Call for founding members

This is a call to anybody interested in founding a new type of business.

In a previous blog I set out the principles of a social co-operative. A five vote model with one vote each for customers, suppliers, investors, workers and friends.

For a co-oporative to be founded in Belgium an inner core of members has to put forward a minimum founding capital. I'm not sure of the latest amounts, I think it's around €6000.

Around this inner core comes the rest of the membership, who can join, in the sense of buying one share, for €50. The entry and exit barrier for normal membership is very low and enables entry or exit at any time. For the founding members its a little more complicated involving posting in the official state newspaper.

The E wheels co-operative does not yet exist, officially, but we have supplier in the form of SIG Solar for the first electric scooters.

This is the starting point, and I'm sure there are strong views on the silicon batteries, for example, but this is just one of the many things to be sorted out on our journey.

If you would like to get involved in any aspect of setting up this company, from sales and marketing to maintenance and repairs, PR HR or CRM, web 2.0, tax 2010 or ERP, the please log your details as a follower of this blog and i will introduce you to the members area and the first decisions to be made.

How a social co-operative Works?

Much like any other business a social co-operative aims to create value, in this case the value is kept at the centre of the business and not automatically distributed to the investors.

The five types of membership represent the whole community required to both generate value and to invest the value created.

At its heart the co-operative will have five votes, one from each membership representative, they will appoint a management team, set the years objectives in both financial and non-financial terms, create the boundaries of ethical values for the business to run inside and decide how the value created will be reinvested in the whole membership community.

Customers, like the original dividend stamp earning members of the Rochdale Pioneer cooperative, 160 years ago, customers can buy a share in the co-oporative and receive a dividend proportionate to their purchases.

Workers, also like the early pioneer Co-op, can buy a share and receive dividends proportionate to the hours they work.

Suppliers, unlike the early pioneers, are also eligible to buy a share and to receive a portion of the monetary value created, proportionate to the value of their supplies.

Investors, as investors, can never control more than one of the five basic representative shares. They receive interest on their investment, and a dividend according to the value of their investment, from the value allocated to investors.

Friends, people not directly involved in the value creating processes, who represent the world outside the co-operative -- from the planet to the neighbours, their interest is in seeing how the dividend allocated to them is reinvested in the world outside. In order to vote both for the management, and major policy decisions, friends will also be able to buy shares.

In an attempt to prevent money dominating votes, each share will be named to one company or one individual and will carry one vote within the category of shares.

50 euros seems to be an affordable price for shares. Entry and exit to the co-operative should be free of blockage and cost. Voting rights should probably be given after one year of membership, apart from the founding members who have to vote on the opening management team and the founding principles.

One of these founding principles is that of sustainability; not that any human made entity can be everlasting, more that heritage left behind is of greater value than that started the cycle.