Business Cooperative
Cooperative defined by Wikipedia and International Co-operative Alliance as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. Most of the business cooperatives are controlled, owned and managed by its members or by the people who uses its services. Among its principles includes voluntary and open memberships, democratic control of the members, self-help and self-responsibility. Over 800 million people are somewhat involved with cooperative and based on the 1994 United Nation estimate, cooperative has been providing livelihood to about 3 billion people. Here are some additional facts about business cooperative from http://www.ica.coop.com.
Co-operative Clayton
- There are about 45.3 million people who are members of a credit union. (Source: Association of Asian Confederation of Credit Unions, Annual Report 2007/2008)
- It is estimated that over 100 million jobs around the world are provided by Co-operatives which 20% more than multinational enterprises.
- Credit unions and Co-operatives in Canada employ over 155,000 people. The largest employer in the province of Québec is the Desjardins movement which is a credit and savings co-operatives.
- 4 out of 10 individuals is a member of a co-operative (25%) in the United States.