Co-operation for Online Sales and Distribution
For start-ups and other businesses, collaborating for a critical mass for sales and distribution makes good sense. Working together can reduce costs, give new expertise access, help you share the risk, and learn from others.
Resources
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How working together can reduce costs, give new expertise access, help you share the risk, and learn from others.
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“The food and farm co‑op sector (including agricultural co‑ops) is one of the oldest, largest and most developed sectors in the Canadian co‑operative movement.”
Source: Ontario Co-operative Association
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“A co‑operative, or co‑op, is an organization that is owned by its members. Co‑ops are formed when a group of individuals come together to meet a common need. Co‑ops offer almost any type of product or service imaginable and can operate either on a not-for-profit or for-profit basis.”
Source: Ontario Co-operative Association
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“The Keys to Success project is intended to identify and analyze the most common stumbling blocks for developing co-ops and the overall landscape in which they currently operate.”
Source: Local Food and Farm Co-ops
Expert Conversations
Hear from social educator Peter Cameron of Ontario Co-operative Association and social entrepreneur Alicia Lake of Cape Breton Food Hub as they share their experiences, expertise, tools, and resources for successful co-operation.
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Peter is primarily responsible for supporting existing co-operatives and starting new co-operatives by responding to inquiries, providing technical assistance and identifying funding opportunities to expand our co-operative development activities across the province.
Peter joined OCA in April of 2011. Co-operatives have always been his passion and he has extensive experience starting and working in co-operative businesses. He was on the founding boards of Silverwood Housing Co-operative, Guelph Food Co-operative, Guelph Co-op Council and Sumac Community Worker Co-operative (Planet Bean Coffee). He was a Co-op Business Developer and Executive Director of the Ontario Worker Co-op Federation between 1993 and 2002.
Peter is a graduate of the Co-operative Management Certificate Program sponsored by OCA and the Schulich School of Business, and graduated from McMaster University with a Hons BSc. He was the recipient of the "Outstanding Contribution to On Co-op Award" in 2004 and the CWCF Worker "Co-op Merit Award" in 2005.
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Alicia Lake is a lifelong resident of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. She grew up on a small farm, and has dedicated her life to strengthening the local food economy. Alicia is a graduate of Cape Breton University, holding undergraduate degrees in community studies and political science; an MBA in community economic development, as well as a diploma in public administration and business management. She has articles that explore the role of cooperatives in local food, affordable housing, and the economy published in several national and international journals. Now, Alicia is the Executive Director of the Pan Cape Breton Food Hub Co-op, a multi-stakeholder co-operative that operates an online marketplace to make it easy to get products from local producers into the hands of consumers.