Countdown to Co-operatives Fortnight

Keen followers of The Enterprise Hub Twitter and Facebook profiles will know that we're gearing up for Co-operatives Fortnight, an annual two-week celebration of co-operatives in the United Kingdom. The campaign, now in its second year, is designed to raise awareness of the co-operative movement, highlighting how member-owned organisations can benefit employees, communities and the economy. The fortnight is a festival for the co-operative model and nearly 5,000 organisations across the United Kingdom will be using this opportunity to help promote a better way of doing business.

Co-operatives Fortnight kicks off on the 25th June with Co-operative Congress, a three day event organised by our friends at Co-operatives UK. The conference, which is hosted at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, sees the brightest minds in the movement gather for a packed weekend of talks, exhibitions and networking.

The programme, which you can read here, promises a variety of exciting speakers and Ed Mayo, David Button and Mary Portas are all set to talk over the weekend. The event also features some interesting break-out sessions with topics of discussion including co-operative councils, membership engagement and co-operatives in football.

We’re also delighted to see a number of co-operatives which have been supported by The Enterprise Hub feature in the programme. Ethical-clothing co-operative Whomadeyourpants? and Hudswell Community Pub are both the focus of two of these aforementioned discussion sessions.

As for The Hub, we'll be exhibiting on the conference floor at stand 33 with our friends from The Co-operative Bank. Naturally, we'll be tweeting throughout the day, but do feel free to come and see us at any point during the event.

With Co-operatives Congress only one day away, we're looking forward to a productive and educating weekend. Here at The Enterprise Hub, we're excited at the potential of meeting new co-operatives, talking to old friends and helping to spread the message of co-operation.

See you all in Birmingham.