1.1 Designing a Sustainable and Cooperative Business Model for Visible Minority Immigrant Women in St. John’s

As a result of project called “Her Own Boss” community-based project done by the Women’s Economic Council, aimed at exploring the challenges in self-employment for visible minority immigrant women in British Columbia, Ontario, and Eastern Newfoundland in 2019-2021, one hundred twenty women were interviewed. At the same time, weekly training sessions were held in the three regions to address the specific needs of participants for running their businesses. Digital literacy, marketing, legal advice, etc., were covered in the training sessions. Collective Interchange, NL delivery partner on the “Her Own Boss” research project decided to introduce a business model for the participants in St. John’s to accommodate their business needs and help them address their barriers more effectively. Collective Interchange has suggested a cooperative business model to mitigate financial burdens and create a higher level of social capital and networking. In this MITACS project, different cooperative business models, including creating a Sociocracy platform encompassing multiple cooperative circles, will be explored to develop the most cost-effective and well-designed hybrid cooperative model.

Faculty Supervisor:

Gordon Cooke

Student:

Partner:

Collective Interchange

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services

University:

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Program: