About the Cooperative Movement

Cooperatives are regular businesses owned and managed by and for their members. Members can be customers or employees. What makes a co-op different to a shareholder business is that each member has a say in how the business is run and gets a share of the profit.

Over 250 Million people worldwide earn their living through a Cooperative. You’ll find co-ops in almost every sector:

• Banking and insurance
• Agriculture and fisheries
• Health, social care and housing
• Wholesale and retail
• Media and the creative industries
• Power and utilities

Some of the world’s largest and most successful enterprises are Cooperatives – the top 300 Cooperatives alone have a turnover of over $2.2 trillion