The Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare, Islamic Republic of Iran organised the 4th International Webinar on Cooperatives’ Experiences on 8th March. It focused on the theme "Experience of successful models of Social Entrepreneurship, crowdfunding and cooperative businesses in selected countries".
The webinar was organised to benefit from the successful experiences of countries in policies and planning for the development of social entrepreneurship considering the thought potential, collective wisdom and the socio-economic capital of the people. The webinar aimed to examine the contribution of cooperatives in social entrepreneurship and financing methods for employment-generating activities at the community level and to extract optimal patterns of social entrepreneurship in the framework of cooperative activities.
Mr. Maskani, Deputy Minister for Cooperative Affairs, Ministry of Cooperatives Labour and Social Welfare spoke about the Iranian state policies on social entrepreneurship and Ms. Simel Esim, Director of Cooperatives Unit, International Labour Organisation (ILO) delivered a thematic message during the webinar.
Mr. Ganesh Gopal, Lead – Entrepreneurship Development, represented ICA-AP and delivered a presentation on ‘Cooperative Entrepreneurship: Interventions and Examples from ICA-Asia & the Pacific.’ He spoke about the experience of cooperatives from the region including the concept of ‘participative capital’ and how cooperatives have been instrumental in the equitable distribution of wealth, solving problems faced by local communities, and their role in bringing about economic prosperity and sustainable development.
He also outlined the cooperative entrepreneurship development activities undertaken by ICA-AP in the region such as the Youth Replication Project and the Global Cooperative Entrepreneurs (GCE) programme which was undertaken as part of the ICA-EU Partnership Framework. He highlighted initiatives, such as Coopathon (cooperative hackathon series) and Coop Pitch competitions, organized as part of the Asia Pacific Cooperative Youth Summits (APCYS) to encourage youth to take up cooperative entrepreneurship. He shared examples of youth-led cooperatives which are making significant impact within communities as sustainable social entrepreneurship ventures.
Senior cooperators and practitioners from Iran including Ms. Shahraki, General Manager, Douch Balouch Cooperative; Mr. Shirzadi, CEO, Fat’he Jam Cooperative, and Ms. Anahita Eslahpazir, CEO, Rah-e-Roshd School Cooperative participated in the webinar. Ms. Eslahpazir delivered a presentation on ‘Social Entrepreneurship: A Sistan & Baoluchestan Experience’.
