060-382-8760
info@mduduzibiyela.co.za
Food Security and other Business Acquisition
Member Community Crisis Assist
Member Skills and eTraining
NPC Operations and Office
Q1: What is a worker cooperative in simple terms?
A: It is a business that is owned and controlled by the people who work there. It is not owned by one boss or outside shareholders. The workers are the owners. They make the decisions together and share the profits.
Q2: What are the main benefits of a cooperative for workers?
A: Workers have a say in their jobs, share in the success of the business, and no one can fire them without a fair process. It creates dignity and financial stability.
Q3: How are decisions made in a cooperative?
A: Decisions are made democratically. Often, it is one member, one vote. This is different from a normal company where only the boss or the rich shareholders decide.
Q4: Is there a big difference in pay between workers and managers in a cooperative?
A: No. A key principle is “wage solidarity.” This means the difference between the lowest and highest salary is small. The top manager may only earn 6 or 8 times more than the newest worker, not hundreds of times more.
Q5: What is the role of money (capital) in a cooperative?
A: Money is used as a tool to serve the people. In a normal company, people are tools to make money for the owners. In a cooperative, it is the opposite. The money is used to build the business and help the worker-owners.
Q6: How do cooperatives help the wider community?
A: They create jobs and keep wealth within the community. They also support each other. If one cooperative is struggling, the others will help it, so no worker is left with nothing.
Q7: Why is education so important for cooperatives?
A: To have a successful cooperative, people need skills and knowledge. The first step is often to start a school or training program. As one founder said, “If you want to share power, you must share knowledge.”
Q8: What is crowdfunding?
A: It is a way to raise money by asking a large number of people, usually the community, to each contribute a small amount. This can be done online through special websites.
Q9: How can black South Africans use crowdfunding to start a cooperative?
A: Instead of looking for one rich investor, a group can use crowdfunding. They can ask their community to invest small amounts of money to start the business. In return, the community becomes part-owners of the new cooperative.
Q10: What would be a good first step for a community wanting to start?
A: The first step is education and trust-building. The group must feel a strong need for change and trust each other. They can start a small training program or study group to learn business and cooperative skills together.
Q11: What kind of business is a good place to start?
A: Start with something small and necessary that the community needs. The first cooperative could be a community bakery, a vegetable garden, a recycling service, or a small manufacturing workshop.
Q12: Where can a new cooperative get support and advice?
A: They can create a “business incubator.” This is a special co-operative that exists only to help new co-operatives start. It provides mentorship, help with business plans, and access to funding.
Q13: How can different cooperatives help each other?
A: This is called “inter-cooperation.” Once a few cooperatives exist, they can work together. For example, a farmer’s co-op can sell its vegetables to a grocery store co-op. They can also start their own community bank (a financial co-op) to support each other with loans.
Q14: Can a cooperative be a big, successful company?
A: Yes! The example shows cooperatives that built a famous museum, run a large university, and have huge department stores. They are not small. They compete with big private companies but do it in a fair, democratic way.
Q15: What is the long-term vision of “Exit to Community” for a startup?
A: Normally, a successful startup sells itself to a big corporation. “Exit to Community” means the founders instead sell the business to the people who use it and work in it—the community. This ensures the business stays and benefits the community forever.
Q16: What are the biggest challenges in starting a cooperative?
A:
Access to Money: It can be hard to find startup money when you don’t want to sell out to big investors.
Mindset: People are used to having a job or being a sole boss. It is a new idea to be an owner together.
Time: It takes time to build trust and grow slowly. It is not a quick fix.
Q17: How does crowdfunding solve the problem of access to money?
A: It allows the community to be the investor. This proves there is real support for the business and keeps control local. It aligns with the cooperative principle that capital should serve the people, not the other way around.
Q18: Why is this model especially powerful for previously disadvantaged groups?
A: It directly addresses economic inequality by putting ownership and control into the hands of the community. It builds collective wealth and power, instead of relying on outside companies or bosses to provide jobs. It is a tool for self-determination and economic justice.
Q19: If everyone is an owner, who is the boss? How is work organised?
A: There is still a manager, but the manager works for the workers. The worker-owners elect a board of directors from among themselves. This board then hires managers to run the daily business. The managers are accountable to the workers, not the other way around.
Q20: What happens if the cooperative doesn’t make a profit?
A: Like any business, times can be hard. However, because the workers are the owners, they can decide together how to solve the problem. They might all agree to temporarily reduce their hours or pay to save the business, instead of one boss firing people to protect their own profit.
Q21: How does someone join a cooperative? Do you have to pay?
A: Yes, usually new members pay a small fee to buy a share in the business. This is their “buy-in” and proves their commitment. This fee is often payable over time from their future wages, so it is not a barrier for poor people.
Q22: What stops a cooperative from becoming selfish and greedy like a big corporation?
A: Its official rules (called a “constitution”) are written to include social goals. The cooperative must balance making a profit with helping the community and treating workers fairly. The owners (the workers) can vote to fire a manager who becomes too greedy, because they have the power.
Q23: Can a cooperative fire a worker who is not doing their job?
A: Yes. While workers are owners, they are also employees. If someone is not working properly, the other members can vote to ask them to leave, following a fair process. This protects the business and the jobs of all the other worker-owners.
Q24: What is a “consumer cooperative”?
A: This is a business owned by its customers, not its workers. A good example is a group of people who start a community-owned supermarket. The customers are the owners, so they can decide what products to sell and keep prices fair.
Q25: Can a business be both a worker AND a consumer cooperative?
A: Yes! Some businesses have both the workers and the customers as owners. This creates a very strong circle of support. The customers want the business to succeed, and the workers are motivated to give good service because they own the company.
Q26: How do cooperatives help with unemployment in the long term?
A: Cooperatives create stable, dignified jobs. More importantly, they create a “culture of entrepreneurship” in the community. When people see a successful co-op, they learn how to start their own, creating even more community-owned businesses.
Q27: What is the most important quality for a cooperative to succeed?
A: Trust. The members must trust each other to work hard, be honest, and make decisions for the good of the whole group. Without trust, the democratic system will not work. Building this trust is the first and most important step.
Q28: Is this a socialist or communist idea?
A: No, it is a business model. Cooperatives are for-profit businesses that compete in the market. The big difference is who gets the profit and who has the power. In a co-op, the profit and power stay with the members (workers or customers), not with distant shareholders.
The Circle of Donations
The Circle of Donations
Example: “Look at our new oven! Our first bread is sold. Thank you to everyone who believed in us!”
A Need is Shared: It starts when a person, group, or community has a specific need or a dream for a project. They decide to share this story publicly.
Example: “We are a group of mothers in a township who want to start a community bakery to feed our children and create jobs.”
The Ask: They create a crowdfunding campaign page. This page tells their story, explains their goal, and shows how much money they need. They share this page with their community and the world.
The Donor Gives: People (donors) see the campaign. They are moved by the story, believe in the idea, or want to support their community. They decide to contribute their own money to the campaign.
The Platform Collects: The crowdfunding website (the platform) safely collects all the small donations from many different people and pools them together into one large amount.
Funds are Transferred: Once the campaign is finished or reaches its goal, the crowdfunding platform transfers the full amount of money to the recipient.
The Recipient Uses the Funds: The person or group who started the campaign now uses the money exactly as they promised—to start their bakery, pay for school fees, buy equipment, etc.
Impact is Created: The money is used to create a real-world result. The bakery gets built, jobs are created, or a life is improved.
Transparency and Thanks (This closes the circle): The recipient shares updates, photos, or stories showing what was achieved with the donated money. They thank the donors.
Example: “Look at our new oven! Our first bread is sold. Thank you to everyone who believed in us!”
Why it is a “Circle” and not just a “Line”
This is the most important part. When donors see the result of their gift and feel appreciated, it creates a powerful feeling.
This positive feeling encourages them to give again, which starts the whole circle over for a new project. The “circle of donations” is what builds a lasting culture of community support, not just a one-time gift.
The Circle of Contributions (example)
Step 1: The Member’s Contribution (Money & Trust)
Step 2: The Business’s Action (Creation & Operation)
Step 3: The Member’s Role (Customer & Supporter)
Step 4: The Business’s Return (Profit & Reinvestment)
Step 5: The Circle Repeats and Grows (Strengthening & Expansion)
Seeing this success, the member is more likely to contribute again to help the bakery expand or to fund a new cooperative, like a vegetable farm to supply the bakery.
The Result:
The member is happy because they have a good local bakery, they received a small return, and they see their community thriving.
The business is strong and stable because it has loyal customers and dedicated worker-owners.
Food Safety Ambassador
Business Analyst Lead
Cooperative lead
Skills Training lead
Community Engagement
Technical Lead
Operations Lead
Investments lead
The community will create the rules together. These rules will decide how everything is managed. Most importantly, each cooperative established will be owned by members who contributed for that worker cooperative campaign. This ensures the project is always owned by the people who actively support it. The leader is an integral part of the engagement with the community.
Following broad community consultation and input, a non-profit company (NPC) will be formally registered. This ensures the organization is structured to serve public benefit, legally compliant, and transparently managed, laying a accountable foundation for all future development and cooperative initiatives aimed at sustainable social and economic empowerment.
Our first campaign will fund a Centre of Excellence. Using the Mondragon cooperative model, this volunteer-driven institution will grow worker cooperatives across the country through business acquisition, food security, and community engagement. Managed by six full-time NPC members, it will build capacity and foster sustainable economic development through structured portfolio teams and continuous skills development
Grow food sovereignty; acquire sustainable community-rooted businesses.
Equip every member with essential skills for success
Support before crisis; wellness ensures cooperative strength.
Join. Build. Own. Your community, your cooperative.
