Ed Mayo – CooperativesUK

Hello, I’m Ed Mayo from Cooperatives UK, speaking to you from Manchester, where it’s a typical summer day with rain. This city has a rich cooperative history, just a few miles from where the Rochdale Pioneers, a group of 28 weavers and workers, started the first modern cooperative in the early 19th century. As the leader of Cooperatives UK, a national association representing cooperatives with 13 million members, we are a significant presence in the UK. Leveraging our deep heritage, we are exploring how to utilize platform co-ops to provide a democratic option for our future economy. Since 2018, we’ve launched the world’s first accelerator for platform co-ops, Unfound, and have continued to support emerging initiatives like the Open Food Network and Equal Care Platform Cooperative. We are thrilled to be a part of this new chapter in democratic business.