One of the major projects developed by Olatukoop with other actors is KoopFabrika, a programme created in 2017 with the aim of boosting social entrepreneurship and which is currently underway.
Initially, the first idea was that the cooperatives and agents that gathered around the transformative economy had an instrument for their formation, as they clearly saw that they had a big gap, because they had no help in that direction.
Nor did many of the companies operating in the waves have sufficient training to guide their structures in the values of the transformative economy. Beñat Irasuegi, a member of Olatukoop, associates these principles with the "failure of territorial development" of the 2008 crisis. Several districts and municipal entities saw the need to address a new strategy, such as that of Hernani or Bergara, and began the first social entrepreneurship programs, such as that of Bergara Berrikin.Berregin, from where they made the jump to a larger KoopFabrika program.
Participants, besides knowing experiences and theoretical training sessions, have assistance in the launching phase of their projects.
KoopFabrika has come along in collaboration with different universities and institutions from the very beginning. In addition to the waves, it is organised by the Lanki Cooperative Research Centre of Mondragon Unibertsitatea and the Institute for Social Education and Cooperative Law of the UPV/EHU and is financed by the Department of Economic Promotion, Tourism and Rural Environment of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa. This year, in addition, they have had the collaboration of the Cristina Enea Foundation and have held all the sessions of the School of Cooperative Entrepreneurship at their headquarters in San Sebastián.
The participants, besides knowing experiences and theoretical training sessions, are helped in the development phase of their projects. Without taking into account the data of the last edition, the previous ones have received training above 680 people, 113 projects have been supported and 69 of them have been launched in all the districts of Gipuzkoa. In addition, KoopFabrika has promoted initiatives of transformative economy in other territories of the Basque Country.
Coopfabrice from Hehoalde
Projects launched include KoopFabrika from the South. It is a tool to bring the transformative economy closer to the migrated people and foster cooperative entrepreneurship between the cooperative Enaras, Olatukoop and Lanki, "from the community and away from assistentialism". The participants have known experiences from Catalonia, Madrid and Andalusia, among others.
[*This article, Olatukoop: ten years of work, has been published in a report in favor of a more prosperous life for all]
