Venue and Host:

National Cooperative Union of India

3, Khel Gaon Marg, Siri Institutional Area,

Block A, Nipccd Campus, Haus Khas,

New Delhi, Delhi-110016

 

 

What is a Cooperative?

Check out this 1 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90FL_bBE4mw

 

• A Co-operative is an autonomus and democratic association of persons united to meet common economic, social, and cultural goals. They achieve their objectives through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.
• Profits are distributed among the members (who usually invest/subscribe in them.)
• Cooperatives differ from other forms of businesses because they operate more for the benefit of members, rather than to earn profits for investors.
• Across the world, cooperatives can take different forms : from a consulting firm to an online ethical music streaming cooperative; as diverse in terms of activity ranging from cooperative banks cooperatives for farmers, milk producers and even one organising snak cathers

 

“ Therefore, traditionally, this form of organisation is ideally suited and structured, to take up complex issues faced by the community, organise them, and provide inclusive solutions to them“

 

Coopathon 1.0 held at IIM-Kozhikode in 2018

https://www.youtube,com/watch?v=C3c4vMjKEs4

 

About Coopathon 2.0    

The pilot edition of Coopathon in April 2018 saw over 100+ young persons from across the southern Indian states compete at the country’s premier institute - Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode.

 

With a vision to highlight the role of co-operatives in the emerging economy, ICA Asia and Pacific is organising Coopathon 2.0 to source sustainable, innovative and technologically-enabled solutions to address various challenges in the co-operative sector. It is an initiative to provide youth with a platform to solve some of pressing problems that co-operatives face in their daily operations, inculcate a culture of innovation and problem solving and in the process, expose them to the values-based form of enterprise model. The participants would have the opportunity to work on challenges faced by the cooperative movement, thus helping the sector to hire the best minds from across the nation.     

 

 

Problem Statements            

 

Buldana Urban Coop Credit Society (BUCCS)

Buldana Urban initiated 'Buldana Urban Microfinance', a facility that supported and transformed countless common lives. It went beyond just finance to enrich and empower the common man, with an array of socio-economic activities. It took the co-operative movement to the grass root level and utilized it to uproot problems. By procuring secured finance to the farmers and offering solutions to their problems such as storage and distribution of their products, Buldana Urban gave them economic stability and confidence.

 

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

BUCCS has more than 360 warehouses with a total area of around 6.5 million sq. feet and the total capacity of around 550,000 mt. tonn, having a turnover of 170 million USD. 200,000 farmers are associated with warehousing and the staff of warehouse is well trained and can easily identify and rate the commodity, so lending can be done on the spot in a short time. Warehouses help farmers to preserve commodities and earn preserve commodities and earn as market fluctuates. Generally, warehouses are far from the city so there is no cable connectivity available, along with frequent power-cut issues. So, desktop and laptop can’t be used efficiently for transactions. So, we require a mobile application for our warehousing transaction. We are using BSNL leased line for network connectivity of our branches to data centre. But in rural areas, it comes with a host of connection issues. We require a solution/replacement available, for the network connectivity.

 

   EXPECTATIONS

•      The team shall explore the practicality by listing untapped opportunities and also flagging risks
•       Devise a model and plan of execution for mobile application and internet connectivity

                                      

International Co-operative Alliance Asia and Pacific

 

Co-operatives have been recognised by policymakers as a key actor for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. They are in particular recognised as a powerful driver of economic integration and social inclusion, as well as a lever for empowering young people in experimenting and implementing innovative models to address challenges met by new generations (climate change, migrations, digitalization and transformation of work, among others)

 

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

 

The cooperative movement is still lacking the infrastructure and tools to translate political objectives into coordinated action. In particular, the ICA and its regional offices are facing systemic difficulties to identify existing tools and activities to support cooperative entrepreneurs, as such resources are implemented at local level.

Information note: A better future for young people - What cooperatives can offer (ILO, 2012)

 

EXPECTATIONS    

       

• We need an online platform to assist youth in developing co-ops in the country   
• Developing information for anyone who wants to start a new co-op or expand/enhance an existing one.
• A tool that provides the information youth would need to make sound decisions and move forward with establishing their idea in the cooperative model.                 

 

Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Store Ltd.

 

Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Store Ltd. is a registered society under Delhi Cooperative Societies Act. It was setup for supplying Consumer goods to its affiliated various Primary Consumer cooperative Stores functioning in various parts of the metropolis. During the days of scarcity of commodities of daily use, a large number of consumer co-operative societies came into being in different parts of Delhi in the last decades. Current status - out of about 600 primary consumer co-operative stores registered in Delhi, more than 500 are now either non-existent or defunct. The rest of the societies are somehow surviving with uncertain futures of which around 30-35 could be active in retailing of consumer goods.

 

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

 

The primary consumer co-operative societies in Delhi were set-up with around 100 members each, at the time of registration. The members’ contributions towards share capital were about Rs. 100 per member or even less. The capital base of these societies was never sound. These function with suppliers’ credit and loans from the market. The members are just not interested in investment in the share capital of consumer co -operatives because of non-availability of corresponding economic benefits.

 

EXPECTATIONS

 

Funds are one problem; business development plan is another. As the previous business model didn’t work/adapt, Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Store Ltd will need a new business plan to come out of their current scenario and also sustain their businesses in future.

• How to raise funds for Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Store Ltd?
• What will be an ideal business plan for Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Store Ltd?

 

Delhi Healthcare Cooperative Society Ltd.

 

Delhi healthcare Cooperative Society Ltd. is based in Shahdara, New Delhi and was setup with the intention to provide healthcare services to its members at a reasonable price. It claims to lead a new beginning in providing affordable healthcare in northern India. A substantial section of its funds come from donations.

 

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

 

Historically, co-operatives have been funded by withdrawable share capital provided by members and retained earnings (or reserves comprising undistributed earnings). Membership fees is usually very small and can be withdrawn, hence it is not a strong and stable source of funds. Whereas reserves take time to build up before they can be re-invested. However, Cooperatives can look outwards for funds like private companies who are willing to invest under Corporate Social Responsibility.

 

EXPECTATIONS

• An online platform which acts a bridge between co-operatives and private companies which wish to invest under CSR.          

 

International Water Management Institute

Anand, a district of Gujarat state that gave India its dairy cooperative movement, has now spawned a new cooperative that may well grow into a genre of its own. It has taken advantage of the Gujarat Energy Regulatory Commission (GERC) intervention strategy in renewable energy sector. Promotion of this solar cooperative is possible with the support the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Anand.

 

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

Gujarat government recently announced Suryashakti Kisan Yojana (SKY), under which farmers' electric irrigation pumps are to be replaced with solar irrigation pumps. For the same, farmers are required to deposit 5 percent of the capital cost, which is roughly Rs. 42,000/kWp. So, for a 5HP/5kWp system, the total cost would be Rs. 2.1 lakh and farmers are required to contribute Rs. 10,500 to participate in the scheme.

 

There are multiple benefits of joining in the scheme like day time power from solar pumps, which is not possible with electric pumps as electricity is supplied in the night time for agriculture. Also, if electricity is not required for pumping, the same can be sold to the utility to earn income. This also will incentivize farmers to economise on electricity and water use in cropping and would improve their water productivity. But, government of Gujarat is facing issues to convince small farmers to participate in the scheme and they blame the upfront contribution requirement as the main reason inhibiting farmers from joining. Farmers can organize themselves in small village level solar cooperatives to ease the operations but since the cooperatives are nascent, they are not capable of supporting its potential members. Also, until a farmer is a member of the cooperative, s/he cannot be supported and in order to become a member, a farmer needs to own a solar pump and therefore pay the upfront contribution.  We would like to explore if a crowdsourcing arrangement can be devised, which can convert a donor (who donates at a crowdsourcing platform) to a financer for enabling farmers to participate in the scheme.

 

EXPECTATIONS

• The team shall explore the practicality of the option by listing untapped opportunities from the idea and also flagging risks
• Devise a model and plan of execution

 

 

Vasundhara Agri Horti Producer Co. Ltd (VAPCOL)

VAPCOL is a second-tier farmer producer company based out of Pune and promoted by BAIF Development Research Foundation, since 2004. VAPCOL has 15 active shareholders which are cooperative societies based in South Gujarat. These 15 cooperatives are majorly involved in the cashew value chain since 1980s. To market the cashew produced and processed by these cooperative shareholders, VAPCOL has established a brand called “Vrindavan”. Unique Selling Preposition of this brand is that it promotes and markets unadulterated cashews to its consumers, additionally pays back to its active shareholders the major share from the profits generated from the sale of the product in terms of Patronage Bonus. Brand Vrindavan’s cashew value chain has 3 stakeholders namely: farmer, cooperative & VAPCOL; whereas any conventional cashew value chain has only the following stakeholders: a farmer, small trader, big trader, wholesaler, processor, wholesaler, retailer. Despite being small in terms of stakeholders still on an everyday basis, it is very challenging for “Vrindavan” cashew to compete in market.

 

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Dozens of coops exist in South Gujarat in cashew production, procurement & processing. It has been a perpetual struggle for survival! First; for getting produce from their own shareholders in order to run the processing units in full capacity for round the year, and second; to be the first one to procure from shareholders so that they do not sell off to the competitors i.e. private traders and processors.

 

These private players operate in parallel with the cooperatives and compete for the procurement of cashew raw nut. As they are individual traders (sometimes un-registered as well) and conduct business without paying taxes and breaking law. They escape paying GST (of 5%) to the government on large value invoices and become 5% efficient in selling finish cashew in market. On the other hand, cooperatives pay 5% GST sincerely. For running the cashew processing units, cooperatives take loan on large scale at 12% interest per annum. In cashew value chain the cooperatives purchase raw material once during harvest season & engage in processing it the entire year. For cooperatives the cash conversion happens once in a year!

 

In the entire cashew value chain, the loan interest cost is between Rs. 25 to Rs. 35/kg; which is very high. Sourcing a soft loan of low interest rate is a major challenge for the cooperatives. Tax and cost of interest makes the cooperative’s cashew value chain expensive in comparison to the private traders.

 

EXPECTATIONS

• Devise an efficient business model and plan of execution for the producer company
• The team shall explore untapped opportunities and also flag risks

               

 

How to be a part of the hackathon ?

You can register here 

 

More information about the program?

Please check out this document

 

Want to know the experience ?

Read Mehar’s Blog here
           

 

ORGANISERS

 

 

International Co-operative Alliance Asia and Pacific (ICA-AP)

 

The ICA is an independent, non-governmental organisation established in 1895 to unite, represent and serve co- operatives worldwide. It provides a global voice and forum for knowledge, expertise and co-ordinated action for and about co-operatives. It’s members are international and national co-operative organisations from all sectors of the economy, including agriculture, banking, consumer, fisheries, health, housing, insurance, and industry & services. It helps members develop business relationships and partnerships with members as well as convenes co-operative knowledge, information and guidance through capacity building programmes, technical exchange, and increasing access to co-operatives related information. The ICA Asia and Pacific (ICA-AP) was established in 1960 in New Delhi as the regional office and education centre. The ICA-AP serves 104 organizations from 32 countries (as of Jan 2019) in the region. In March 2016, the ICA entered into a partnership with the European Commission, ushering in a new phase of collaboration on strengthening the co-operative movement as development actors. The ICA-EU partnership is built around activities focused on increasing visibility, enhancing advocacy, sharing capacity building, strengthening co-operative development networking, and supporting all these with evidence from exhaustive research.

 

National Co-operative Union of India (NCUI)

 

It is the apex organisation representing the entire cooperative movement in India. Established in 1929 as All India Cooperative Institutes Association and was re-organised as Indian Cooperative Union through the merger of Indian Provincial Cooperative Banks’ Association with All India Cooperative Institutes Association and later in 1961 as National Cooperative Union of India. It has travelled a long way since then to now as the sole representative of the cooperative movement in the country. Being the apex organisation of the Indian cooperative movement in the country, the NCUI is committed to lend dynamism and vibrancy to the cooperative sector in the twenty first century. To make the voice of cooperation as strong as ever is NCUI’s supreme motto.

 

TinkerHub Foundation

 

TinkerHub Foundation is a nonprofit initiative aimed at making use of 21st century technologies and learning methods to foster a fresh breed of highly skilled young people empowered with technical and social skills. TinkerHub assists students with experiential learning associated with innovation and entrepreneurship. It helps students learn as they advance and realize their own ideas and projects as they believe empowering the youth with right technical and social skills is the growing need of the hour. TinkerHub is the place for experiments and anything that is new in electronics, Web, Mobile, IoT, Artificial Intelligence to Art, Origami and Design.