Co-ops are by nature business enterprises with a social agenda, spanning a global history of a little over a hundred years, and guided by a set of universal co-op values and principles. Most co-ops provide financial services as their main business activity, created mainly to render credit services to the members, and to liberate them from usurious rates of popular economic institutions. While some co-ops have other business activities, their general objectives are to respond to the needs of the members and the community through the provision of various forms of services and programs. Co-ops are thus committed to protect and promote the interests of their members and also small businesses. Co-ops have to be loyal to their mission and will have to maintain accessibility of basic financial services (savings, credit, payment services) to all levels of their membership. But to be truly efficient in responding to the different needs of their women members and of their men members, co-ops have to set up services, as needed, to support the development of the members both economically and politically. Co-ops should provide a support system to the financial services rendered in order to help members become what they aspire to be.

What can this support system be:

• Provision of business development to entrepreneurs with MSMEs who either borrowed their capital from the co-op, or are just co-op members and operate their own micro and small business but are in need of business know-how and other services
• Capability-building activities focused on making member-entrepreneurs efficient in the production and marketing of their products
• Providing support mechanisms to the member-entrepreneurs, particularly the application of ICT in their enterprises

With specific support for women…

Since women-owned and/or women-managed enterprises increasingly benefit from micro-finance, which is the main business activity of most co-ops, the co-ops can play a major role in promoting women’s development that will benefit not only the women’s families but also society, in general. Enterprising women can utilize various services and programs from their co-ops, such as financial services that include savings and credit; access to capital for business start-up or business expansion; proper network and linkages for broader business markets; capability-building training that will develop leadership and management capabilities; and access to technology that will increase productivity and product quality.

MSMEs are usually a source of secondary income, and provide psychological as well as economic value to workers as evidenced by savings and benefits from growth. If co-ops support the economic and political development of their women as well as men members, the co-ops will benefit through: increase in financial contribution from the members as well as input in the efficient management of the co-ops; more potential leaders will evolve; and, eventually, the community/society will benefit. This is a concrete situation of addressing poverty problems in the community, and development of more women leaders through economic empowerment. Women’s economic activities will enable women to have POWER, and economic empowerment carries with it potential empowerment leading to gender equality and equity.

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