Features and Graduates - Co-op Incubator

In year-1 we went through a lot of teething issues as you would expect from a volunteer-run, cash-strapped, pioneering startup.

We also managed to build a few awesome features into the website, get 100+ members and incubate a number of successful projects that have since gone on to become Co-operatives. In short, we have been moving forward but not as well as we want.

Our main issue seems to be member engagement. Initially we didn’t have much for Members to do (the features took time to add) and now that we do have stuff to help members create great Co-operatives they don’t login and participate. It is in truth a bit of a ghost town.

Features

Member-site features include:

* Personal Profiles and Chat features that allow you to connect with other Co-operators.

* Groups – a dedicated place to start and establish what your project is about.

* Courses, Tools, Templates – to progress your project teams strategy

* Jobs Board – to allow members to procure and get paid for work on projects

* Treaty Builder – Member2Member agreements that help manage expectations between a project and its founders, service providers, volunteers and mentors

Graduates

There are a 10-20 Projects underway at various stages of Forming Organising Funding and Operating development.

We ran an Accelerator Program in early 2019 that resulted in great progress for the participants (watch video below).

The most recent graduates include

Watch the video below to hear Moira Were AM talk through their process of going from 2000+ women in a facebook group (Chooks SA) to a platform Co-operative (HenHouse.coop)

Watch this video testimonial of the Solar Harvest team