BWP - Black Women Professional Co-op

BWP Co-op - Black Women Professional Co-op is a federally registered worker cooperative based in Ontario, Canada. We are a women-owned network of entrepreneurs & professionals building a Sustainable Ecosystem of Resilient, Healthy & Thriving Communities, focused on Women's Economic Freedom, Socio-cultural Agency & Intergenerational Legacy. BWPW Co-op empowers women in the agro-chain and food ecosystem to start, operationalize, scale up products and services to mainstream local retail channels and international markets, provide access to professional mentorship and business training, networking, tools and resources. We are a bridge between women in the cooperative ecosystem, from the global North and South. BWPW Co-op provides a safe space for all members to collaborate & co-create with one another via a Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA+), Investment Club, Peer-to-Peer Lending Circle and support. We invest in, & scale up businesses, empowering our members to create inter-generational wealth, contribute to their communities, and build meaningful legacies. _____________________ ❝ROSCAS are at the very core of what we know as the solidarity social economy — the citizens sector. They are self-managed voluntary co-ops used around the world, and they are embedded in civil society. These cultural names for systems of mutual aid and collectivity — are known by academics as Rotating Savings and Credit Associations, or ROSCAs. ROSCAs are usually described in a local vernacular — Somali Ayuuto, Jamaican Partner, Indian Chit, Haitian Sol, Chinese Hui, Equub for Eritreans and Ethiopians and Tandas for people in Latin America. Or as Ajo, Osusu, Esusu, Sandooq, Chit or Arisan. These cultural names for systems of mutual aid and collectivity — are known by academics as Rotating Savings and Credit Associations, or ROSCAs. ROSCAs are hidden forms of co-operatives that Black and racialized people practiced all over the world.❞ — Professor Caroline Shenaz Hossein