POSIBLE COOP

POSiBLE Coop is the first acceleration program in Mexico for cooperatives, where we accompany them for 6 months to strengthen their business model in the areas of:

• Leadership and governance, 
• Finance and financing, 
• Sales and marketing 
• Innovation 

So they have greater possibilities of growth, increase the level of impact on their regions and improve their revenues. In addition, the entire program seeks to motivate and empower cooperative members so that they can continue with their micro businesses.

During the first pilot, the most of the program was face-to-face, however now we have designed a scheme that can be implemented 100% digitally or in a mixed scheme, taking advantage of the use of available technologies according to the availability and specific needs of this sector.

Given the high demand for employment in Mexico, and the skills and education required for quality jobs (in Mexico, according to OECD, only 22% of the population has university education), the Social Economy has become a great alternative to be a source of income generation, under an economic and local development approach.

In Mexico, a person with a high school education or less, has an average monthly income of less than 10,000 Mexican pesos (445 USD), which represents up to 65% less than what a person with university studies can earn, therefore, it is necessary and urgent to generate other ways to allow people, who unfortunately have not had access to a higher educational level, to have a decent job option and improve the life of their families. 

Cooperatives have the great advantage of being a inclusive figure, is based in in the team work and the common benefit, with collective decisions and distribution of profits among all members, all has a function and the company becomes part of the community. It represents the opportunity to make a difference in vulnerable sectors by giving them an alternative to have a better life through creating a micro business.

A wide-ranging acceleration program that strengthens not only the cooperative, but all members, allowing them to have stronger, more profitable and scalable cooperatives. This program has a mixed format that allows, to make aware all members of the cooperative and to transfer knowledge to more people.

Digital program
Propedeutic. Online introductory course to homogenize the basic concepts and explain the way of working.
MOOC. 3 months of training through videos, readings, activities, case studies and infographics.
Online follow up. Weekly one-hour sessions with their mentor to review progress and help them to reach their goals.
Accompaniment. 3 months, hand in hand with their mentors, to implement all the learnings.
Digital community of cooperatives. Networking with the Social and Solidarity Economy ecosystem.

Mixed program has the same elements, the main difference is that instead of the MOOC, the members have a Face-to-face 4-day camp where cooperative members take conferences, workshops and individual mentoring to perfect their business model, as well as generate their monthly development plan and objectives.

Downloadable materials, text messages and WhatsApp will be used to be able to fulfill all the components and that the availability of internet is not a limitation so that all partners can have access of it. 

Globally, more than 12% of the world population is cooperative, cooperatives generate income of approximately 2,035 billion dollars and provide employment to 10% of the employed population (ICA).

According to the National Institute of Social and Solidarity Economy, in Mexico 53% of the territory is social property, and they are divided into agrarian nuclei, ejidos and communities, where 61 thousand organizations of the social sector of the economy are registered. The creation and implementation of cooperatives promotes social and labor insertion among the most unprotected sectors, mitigating marginalization and poverty through the production of goods or services.

During the first pilot, we realized cooperatives are born based on the needs of the community, they have a perfect approach to take advantage of the members' vocations, however they have flaws in organizational development, technological innovation, technification in their processes and a deficient infrastructure that not allows them consolidate their efforts and have greater impact in their communities, so it is the reason of the creation of this program to support with tools, trainign and network, legally constituted cooperatives with at least 1 year of operation that have 5 active members, that currently have a product or service that is being marketed. 

Mexico has an unemployment rate of 3.8% and an informality rate of 56.2% (INEGI), so that cooperative societies represent a viable alternative that fosters employment, formality, fair distribution and local economic growth and development in favor of most vulnerable groups.

According to statistics of the Mexican Ministry of Economy, only 2 of 10 enterprises survive in 5 years due to different reasons, among them, lack of good practices, limited training, inefficient management and failed business models. Although cooperatives tend to be more resilient, they have similar problems, so we designed a program to support and connect them to improve. 

Most acceleration programs in Mexico are focused on high-impact companies or traditional businesses, the closest programs are social entrepreneurship accelerators, however, they are not 100% focused on cooperatives.

On the other hand, current programs require the presence of the entrepreneur, which often implies transfers to the main cities or at least that they have possibilities to connect to the internet, and although Mexico has 71% internet penetration, the areas where Cooperatives are, have less access, that is why text messages, whatsapp and downloadable materials are used so that they can have a greater reach, with small capsules of content, we seek that all members of the cooperative feel included in the learning process.

Our first step is to sensitize the population about the concepts of social economy and for this objective, we design specific material available to anyone, via text message or WhatsApp but also with printed materials, video capsules that can be transmitted through local media.

The call will also be promoted through these channels, in addition to having a web platform for registration and also for documentation of progress.
A MOOC will be designed that will also have the accompaniment of a virtual or face-to-face instructor who will guide them in their learnings and objectives. Through the course we want to reach all the members of the cooperative and not just whoever takes the workshop.
Between sessions with the instructor, there will also be access to mentoring through video calls, phone calls and instant messaging, in this way all members of each cooperative will be served without anyone being left out.

Although Mexico still presents great challenges in internet penetration, since urban areas only have coverage in 73.1% and rural areas only 40%, 89.5% of the population has a smartphone, which It becomes a perfect way to spread relevant information to an important part of the population, through simple and practical content, without having to use a computer or have a high-speed connection, it is the reason to we use text messages and WhatsApp, in addition to the fact that we have the possibility of capturing a large amount of information that will help us improve the existing program and design new services that contribute to the same objective.

By having a process of professionalization and accompaniment, cooperatives can perceive considerable improvements in at least 3 of the following 6 indicators with an increase of 15% in each of them:

Monthly sales average
Margin of profit
Monthly average of customers
Active partners
Employees
Financing

During the 2019 pilot, the following growth was presented in the program's performance indicators:
Monthly average of sales, with an increase of 157%. Managing to define its market segment and incorporating new marketing strategies to explore unserved markets.
Profit margin increased by 30%. By analyzing their finances and reviewing in detail the purchasing, production and sales processes, costs were reduced to lead to higher profits.
Monthly average of clients, grew by 72%. Improving their customer service, optimizing their sales channels and incorporating adequate post-sales care into their business models.
Active members, 4 of the 11 cooperatives incorporated new members. With the improvement of their leadership and governance mechanisms, as well as the correct allocation of activities, the cooperatives opened their doors for the incursion of members.
Employees, 5 of the 11 cooperatives added at least one employee. The cooperatives were able to define the key activities and resources for their operation, detecting areas of opportunity in their work teams.
Financing, 3 cooperatives managed to access a financing or credit to improve their operation.

In the first pilot generation of 2019, 11 cooperatives benefited by directly attending 24 cooperative leaders during the process.

In 2020-2021 we estimate to benefit 50 cooperatives and at least 250 members.

In 5 years we want to serve 250 cooperatives and at least 1,250 members, which means the same number of families.

POSiBLE Coop 2020 works in parallel with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

• Promoting the development of scalable cooperatives in vulnerable communities.
• Encouraging the practice of the principles of the social and solidarity economy.
• Boosted decent employment and full employment through the professionalization of cooperatives in Mexico.
• Bringing the necessary resources to the cooperatives that allow them to present some kind of innovation and incorporation of technology in their business models.
• Teaching cooperatives various schemes that allow efficient and respectful production and consumption.
• Improving the family economy by increasing the income of the cooperative.
• Optimizing leadership, governance and distribution mechanisms in cooperatives.
• Generating equal opportunities that members of an urban or rural cooperative can access.
• Facilitating the inclusion of vulnerable groups in production processes, generating social inclusion.
• Promoting sustainable practices in production processes.

With the experiences gathered, the objectives of POSiBLE Coop are defined on 3 levels:
Level 1. Improvement in the effectiveness of the experience of the representatives of the cooperatives.
Resources:
Cooperatives acceleration MOOC at instructor's pace.
Work notebook.
Content improvement (workshops, talks and readings).
Measurement of knowledge permeability through questionnaires.

Level 2. Remote participation of the members of the selected cooperatives.
Resources:
 Kit for camps:
  -Theoretical / practical manual (6 sheets).
  -Short videos
  -Posters.

 Direct content:
  -Podcast.
  -Text messages or Whats app and 30-second capsules.

 Measurement of knowledge permeability through questionnaires.

Level 3. Visibility and massive socialization of ESS-related content to the general public.
Resources:
Micro videos hosted at posible.coop.org.mx
Infographics to spread on POSiBLE social networks and allies.
MOOC of introduction to the ESS

• Communities are often suspicious and do not open the door to work with any person or organization, many people have taken advantage of them, so they do not like to take that risk, that can make it difficult to have a strong call and find those who truly this program can serve and help.
• Mexico has 68 indigenous languages, so in some rural areas we may have to develop content take care of the language barrier.
• Lack of access in remote communities, where there is no access to the internet or telephone lines.
• There is no such reliable information on cooperatives, since many of them are not legally constituted, so locating them for calls may be a problem.
• The lack of homogenization in concepts, where some cooperatives are more advanced than others or that the contents can be very basic or very advanced can cause disappointments in expectations.
• Given the current contingency by COVID, some of the content will have to focus on economic recovery.

• We will rely on actors, associations, local governments to get their trust, as we did in 2019, in this way they do not see us as strangers and the intervention will be soft. 
• There are organizations supported by educational institutions such as UNAM, Tecnologico de Monterrey and other social initiatives with specialized work teams to translate this type of content.
• The materials will also be printed, in downloadable formats and via text message so that they can reach all members of the cooperative.
• State governments have more real information about the number of entreprises, since they have programs focused on them, so we will collaborate with them in order to have a more effective group.
• The initial materials will be designed to standardize the level of knowledge, in addition to providing a propedeutic course for those who require it.
• We are currently working on best practices to update the content and make it very focused on the needs of cooperatives after the pandemic.

Director

General coordinator

Project leader

Content developer

4 trainers

10 mentors

In alliance with Nacional Monte de Piedad, Fundación Televisa creates what is today, the largest entrepreneurship program in Latin America sponsored by the private sector. POSIBLE inspires and empowers Mexicans to undertake, offering training, knowledge, tools and key contacts to transform their business ideas into scalable, high-impact companies.

In 7 years, this program has supported more than 550 new entrepreneurs, of which 257 are still operating and have created more than 1,850 jobs mainly in the Education, Food, Health and Science sectors. Since its creation, POSIBLE has focused on the development of businesses based on innovation, which in Mexico represents 6% and only 3.7% of incorporated companies, according to INEGI figures. Although these types of companies reflect growth in income of more than 20% compared to a traditional company, they are not significant in the country's productive sector, and also requires specific skills and education, so, for this reason, we identified an opportunity to carry out a program, based on the POSIBLE model, but using the powerful figure of the cooperative, which is a type of inclusive scheme with local development.

Our main partner is the Iberoamerican University of Mexico City and the International Research Center for Social and Solidarity Economy (CIIESS) who contributed to the curricular and methodological development of the course given their theoretical-practical experience as well as their sensitivity in the field with cooperatives .

Additionally, the CityBanamex Social Commitment area accompanied us during the follow-up to the cooperatives with conferences and visits to their entrepreneurship workshop to enhance the development of cooperative members.

Likewise, Nacional Monte de Piedad gave talks during the POSiBLE Coop face-to-face camps, where through their experience they shared with the cooperatives information on financing and decent work.

Service: An accelerator program for cooperatives. 

Segment: Productive, consumer, services, and cultural cooperatives,  among others, that are not savings or loans, legally constituted and in operation, of any sectors that are interested in developing a new sustainable business model or enhancing the currently one involving social and community welfare

Value Proposition: Training, tools, mentoring and networking for cooperatives

Impact measures: 

sales growth
profit growth
monthly customer average
active partners
Employees
Financing

Channels: Local partners as associations, goverments and social media

Key activities: Content design, comunnication campaign, call, selection of the participants, Training and mentoring, evaluation program. 

Key resources: Platform, MOOC, dashboard of messages, media contents

Stakeholders: Iberoamerican University, National Institute of Social and Solidarity Economy, CitiBanamex, local governements, Nacional Monte de Piedad

Costs Structure: Platform, MOOC production and recording, payments for the instructors and mentors, operation costs, content developing

Revenue: Because we are a non-profit organization, our income is based on sponsorships, donations and grants, from the private, public and multilateral sector. 

We are a non profit organization, so our model is based in sponsorship from private sector as Nacional Monte de Piedad, private donations as CitiBanamex and public partners as local governements and we are looking for international grants. 

The potential network that MIT has with organizations of all kinds can help us to improve the model, the training methodology, the content and global best practices and similar study cases, since the program today is based 100% on characteristics and experiences in Mexico and we would very much like to strengthen it with global knoweledge.

For us also is important to know other people that is worried about the big problems in the world, insahre experiencies and learnings, that we can help to them also if we can with our infrastructure, and also to live the experience working closer with one of the top five universities in the world. 

Solution technology: We are using basic technology but we are sure that can find another technologies to do it better. We have relations with many entrepreneurs but we dont have found the best solution. 

Funding and reveneu model: We are raising funds national and international to implement this model with greater scope, however, if we do not gather enough money we would have to limit the number of beneficiaries, knowing other sources of financing would be very valuable. 

Board members and advisors: We have relied on great experts in Mexico for this program, it would be great for us to have the feedback and suggestions of experts in this segment at the international level.

Monitoring and evaluation: Documentation and evaluation are essential for this kind of program, we are aware that in order to validate hypotheses and improve it, we must rely on information and assess all the components.

We are mainly interested in working hand in hand with Start Coop who already have experience in accelerating cooperatives in the United States of North America to share experiences and reinforce our methodologies from these exchanges, as well as speakers and workshops.

Introduction with MIT Colab and MIT DLab to knok about their initiaves, workshops and methodoly and exploring some collaborations. 

With this award, we would find to go more depth, approaching the communities with the most difficult access by distance or by language in order to benefit the most vulnerable sectors.

Nowadays we try to benefit most of the excluding sector but also it is hard when yo have limited budget.