Is a co-operative right for your business?

Are you looking for a different, fairer approach to your business? Or are you starting a business and you want it to be equitable, inclusive and empowering for everyone involved? Then this webinar is for you.

Co-operative and community-owned businesses are run by their members to meet their shared needs. Members have a say in how the co‑op is run, making it a fairer, more collaborative and democratic way of doing business.

Join this one‑hour webinar to find out more about co‑ops, the practical benefits they offer to your business and how to get a co‑op business off the ground.

This webinar is part of a series delivered through the Business Support for Co-ops programme from Co-operatives UK in partnership with The Co-operative Bank.

Co-operatives UK’s Co-operative and Mutual Economy 2026 report reveals that the democratic economy – encompassing co-operatives, mutuals, employee-owned businesses and building societies – generates more than £240.7 billion in annual income, supports over 1.7 million jobs and accounts for more than 70 million memberships.

These organisations span almost every part of the economy, from retail, agriculture and financial services to healthcare, housing, manufacturing and professional services – proof that businesses owned by and run for people operate at scale right across the UK, not just in a handful of sectors.

New co-operatives are more than twice as likely to survive their first five years as UK businesses generally – 82.79% compared with 38.44%. Co-operatives are more than four times as likely to be accredited Living Wage employers, while women lead 24% of the UK's 100 largest co-operatives, compared with 9.6% of FTSE 100 companies.