Entrepreneurship, or implementing business ideas that respond to social needs in innovative ways, is at the core of cooperative identity. Cooperatives are innovative organizations that meet people where they are, transforming communities in ways that meet local needs. They provide a path for growth that focuses on individual and community wellbeing, building wealth for the communities they serve. Co-ops that fully embrace their cooperative identity use entrepreneurship to solve community problems and advance social transformation. This session will begin with a message from Martin Chrisney, Senior Director of KPMG, and a conversation on co-op entrepreneurship featuring Ana Agirre, Co-Founder and Worker-Owner of Tazebaez Co-op, and Camila Piñeiro Harnecker, Director of NCBA CLUSA’s Cooperative Development Practice Area. A panel discussion on entrepreneurship will follow, moderated by Kari Onyancha, Chief of Party for Venture 37’s Cooperative Development Program, and featuring George Ototo, Managing Director of the Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives; Nicolas Dimarco, Founding Member of Fiqus Cooperative; Rita Jalkh, Writing Officer and Consultant at Rural Delight Cooperative; and Dardan Isufi, Co-Founder and COO of Eva Cooperative.
