Cochabamba launches innovative share offer

The Cochabamba Project is seeking community investment for a partnership between Bolivian farmers and British investors for an innovative forestry business.

The farmers will continue to own the land as well as supplying the labour and investors will provide the capital for tree planting. Profits from the sale of timber will be shared equally between farmers and investors.

Private investors have already committed almost £500,000 to purchase the rights to 50% of the timber profits. Now the public is able to invest in the Cochabamba project by means of an industrial and provident society, through which investors will recieve a financial and social return. The directors of the IPS plan to pay an interest payment of up to 7.5%.

The Cochabamba Project is one of only three forestry projects in the world to be officially accredited according to the Kyoto regulations on CO2 credits. This means that the development and maintenance costs of the project were able to be fully financed by the sale of credits to a European government.

David Vincent, a director of the Cochabamba IPS, says: "This project is more than an investment in trees - it is a truly sustainable investment in the welfare of Bolivian farmers. Investors have become disillusioned with the volatility of the stockmarket which they don't really understand. This is something that you can go and see for yourself, and unlike nearly all other investments, the underlying asset - trees - actually yield most of their financial return through their physical growth."

The prospectus and further details are available for download at www.cochabamba.coop

MEP visits Black Country Reinvestment Society

Black Country Reinvestment Society (BCRS) was visited by West Midlands Labour MEP Neena Gill recently to see how European funding was assisting small businesses. The Society provides loans of up to £50,000 to small businesses in the Black Country and Southern Staffordshire.

Chief Executive of BCRS, Paul Kalinauckas, said, “Neena has a keen interest in economic development, sustainability and regeneration in the region. She requested a meeting with us so that she could see for herself how we are enabling small companies to access capital to expand and grow their businesses.

“Part of the change in Europe towards helping small businesses has come about through moving from a culture of grant funding to loan finance, creating recycled funding. Money is given out in various loan programmes and channelled through organisations like ourselves, known as micro finance institutions in Europe. It’s money used again and again – lent and repaid, and channelled back into the economy."

“I wanted to see an example of a micro finance institution in operation”, said Neena Gill MEP. “It’s vital to ensure that ERDF and ESF funding is targeted at small businesses. So, it’s interesting for me to see the vehicles that are enabling this funding to get out.

“All businesses grow from micro starts and the people behind them are the main job creators. The focus of my work is getting investment into the Black Country, and if BCRS weren’t making access to this funding available, the funding wouldn’t be there, with the result being that there would be less innovation and entrepreneurs starting up in business."

www.bcrs.org.uk

Zaytoun wins 2009 Arab-British Culture and Society Award

The Arab-British Centre has announced that Zaytoun , a co-operative that works with Palestinian farmers and distributes Palestinian olive oil in the UK, is the winner of the 2009 Arab-British Culture and Society Award.

The annual award of £5000 is made to an individual or organisation which in the opinion of the judges has made an outstanding contribution to the British public’s knowledge and understanding of the life, society and culture of the Arab people.

The judges unanimously chose Zaytoun for the inspirational way it has marketed Palestinian olive oil and olives in the UK.

Through the background briefings, informative promotions and exchange visits it has organised, it has very effectively raised awareness in the UK of the life, problems and potential of Palestinian farmers. Its success in gaining Fairtrade certification – a first for a Palestinian product and a world first for olive oil – has created new opportunities for extending the British public’s knowledge of an important aspect of the life of Arab people.

www.zaytoun.org

www.arabbritishcentre.org.uk

Co-operativesUK CEO on co-operative business support crisis

Speaking in Social Enterprise magazine, Dame Pauline Green, Chief Executive of Co-operativesUK, has drawn attention to the dangers facing co-operative business support as a consequence of changes to business support provision in England.

Click here to read the article

Radical Routes conference and birthday bash

Radical Routes, a network of radical UK co-operatives and collectives, is to hold its conference and 21st birthday bash on 23 May at Conway Hall, London.

Practical Economics : radical alternatives to a failed economic system is a free one-day conference.

Taking place from 10am-6pm it asks how how can we protect our remaining social and ecological resources from the convulsions of capitalism? Workshops will cover open economics, free information, local economic sustainability, gift economies, co-operatives, legal structures, solidarity finance, community ownership and energy descent.

Tickets are free, lunch is available for a donation. Click here to book. For more information call (0113) 262 4408 or email bookings@radicalroutes.org.uk.

The Radical Routes 21st Birthday Bash follows the conference. Featuring ATTILA THE STOCKBROKER & David Rovics, Babar Luck, Clayton Blizzard, smokey bastard and showing of 'The Age of Stupid', Franny Armstrong's new film, starring Pete Postlethwaite.
Tickets: £8/£4 concessions or £11/£6 including evening meal (book food by 20th May).
Doors open at 6pm.

Tickets available at www.wegottickets.com (search for radical routes) or from here.

Glasgow housing co-operative joins Tenants First

Four Walls Housing Co-operative in Glasgow has reached agreement to become part of Tenants First Housing Co-operative, Britain’s largest housing co-operative, based in Aberdeen.

Four Walls was set up in Glasgow in 1983 to provide safe, secure and affordable housing for women. The co-operative owns a number of flats in a purpose-built development in the west end of Glasgow.

As John McKinnon, Tenants First's chairperson, says: “At Tenants First we have been working with Four Walls for some time, providing management support for their operation. Over this time it has become clear that there were considerable benefits, in terms of growing resources and increasing efficiency, that could be gained by joining forces.

“Both organisations share a common view about the benefits of fully mutual housing co-operatives in meeting the affordable housing needs of their members. This deal is also particularly significant for Tenants First as it represents the first formal expansion of our organisation outside our traditional area of Aberdeen and North East Scotland.

“We have watched, with some dismay, the dwindling numbers of housing co-operatives in recent years. My hope is that this expansion of Tenants First into the Central Belt, could be the catalyst in creating renewed interest in the housing co-operative movement as a means to meet the affordable housing need in Scotland.”

Tenants First Housing Co-operative is Britain’s largest housing co-operative with more than 1,300 properties in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and parts of Angus. It also provides management services for Kincardine Housing Co-operative.

Read more of this story here

www.tenantsfirst.com

DEFRA's blog on community owned shops

DEFRA's blog on a recent meeting with its Social Enterprise Strategic Partners - of which Co-operativesUK is one - features a discussion of the rising interest in and number of start-ups of community-owned shops in rural areas.

Simon Berry, writing the blog, puts the rise down to traditional prviate businesses struggling to keep going, particularly in difficult times, and the resilience of local communities who take over and run shops themselves in order to save vital services.

For the blog and more links, click here.

Plunkett's getting the message out

The Plunkett Foundtion's been busy getting the word out about the work it does and the benefits of co-operation for rural areas. They've got a new Plunkett Facebook group, and Peter Couchman, Plunkett's Chief Executive, has a blog and tweets up and running.

The Hub celebrates support for new co-operatives

The Hub, a social enterprise centre in West Cumbria managed by Co-operative and Mutual Solutions, is celebrating its record of business support for co-operatives and social enterprises.

The Hub was set up in 2006 to provide business support to social enterprises in rural and deprived areas of West Cumbria, and demonstrates just what an impact on the ground that specialist business support can have.

In just three and a half years, The Hub has supported 25 new start co-operatives and other social enterprises, helped create 40 new jobs, and provided business advice, consultancy and mentoring to over 70 local businesses.

As Anne Cartner, Project Manager at The Hub, explains: “We’re very pleased that we’ve been able to support so many co-operatives, social enterprises and local businesses. The Hub provides an incredible service to local people and enterprises. It’s the kind of project that ought to be available everywhere.”

www.thehub.coop