Based on a case study by Júlia Martins Rodrigues and Nathan Schneider, this session offers a powerful approach to expanding the cooperative economy. Starting with entrepreneurs in the Colorado solar energy industry, they developed a multi-stakeholder network of single-stakeholder co-ops, combining a worker co-op, purchasing co-op, shared-services co-op, credit union and investment co-op. This network offers what could be a replicable model for scaling cooperative businesses despite the challenges of accessing capital. Bringing together co-op employees and researchers, this session will highlight specific strategies for how others can learn from this example.
