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Conference – Reinventing Limerick – Sat 27th October 2012
- 25 October 2012
Finance Minister To Launch New Business Cooperative In Limerick The Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Saturday 27th October 2012, from 10:30. The seminar, Reinventing Limerick the Cooperative Way, organised by Meitheal Mid West, will see the launch of Ireland's first multi stake holder cooperative in the high & low tech sectors. Renewable energy and intensive commercial horticulture are the initial target sectors with others to follow.
This is a sustainable jobs creation engine being supported by the recently amalgamated Limerick Local Authority, the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation, the UK cooperative family, The Evergreen Cooperative Group in Cleveland Ohio and the Interreg "Cooperatives for Growth" program.
The UK Cooperative Banking Group, voted Europe's Most Sustainable Bank – Financial Times sustainable bank awards 2012, will present at the seminar together with leading worker cooperatives from across Britain and Northern Ireland – from both high & low tech sectors.
Co-operative enterprises have been particularly resilient during the current economic crisis. Limerick now has an opportunity to harness this cooperative resilience in the drive to create sustainable employment.
National statistics in Spain confirm that while most of Spain's economy is in recession, 19,000 jobs were created in the co-operative economy in the last quarter of 2011 (Bibby, 2012). In the UK, between 2008–10 there was growth in the co-operative economy of 21% while the rest of the economy shrank by 3.7% (Co-ops UK, 2011). Furthermore, a study by Cass Business School (Lampel et al. 2010) found that at the height of the EU recession in 2008/09, employee-owned businesses grew by more than 10% (in employment, sales and turnover) while the private sector stagnated. The co-operative economy now accounts for 13% of GDP in Sweden, 16% of GDP in Switzerland and 21% of GDP in Finland (Coops UK, 2011).
CONTACTS: Bill Kelly Meitheal Mid West +353 87 6474 230 +353 61 208 352
Source: HortiTrends News Room
