Small Business Banter

Moira Were AM Founder Hen House Coop on the incubation of Flock Coop an artist and creator platform built to disrupt the patriarchy.

Episode Summary

This is episode 3 of 4 in the BCCM series on Coops and Mutuals. Flock Coop is a disruptive online platform built to equitably bridge the digital divide for women and non-binary folks. Moira Were AM talks about the reasons for and the process by which Flock was so quickly and successfully incubated for it's artist and creator community.

Episode Notes

@MoiraWere AM is deeply entrenched in the #coop movement. She is currently founder of @Henhousecoop  which incubated @flockcoop.  Her career includes leadership roles in #startups, #businesses and #community orientated organisations. 

Moira received an Australian honour in 2019 (AM) for her significant service to the community of #SouthAustralia. She is passionate about #inclusion, #diversity and alignment with the #SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), bringing this perspective to the development of governance, engagement and reporting for impact.

In this episode we talk about #startingup, why the #coopmodel was so critical in founding #flockcoop and;  

• the #hackathon that started it all  - they put a proposition to teams to ask the question "If there was an online platform, to support co-op creatives or people who are creatives, what could that be? What could it look like?"
• the #lawyers, #entrepreneurs, #investors, #community leaders and #techies who volunteered.
• building things on the fly
• what it would mean to run a business and cross the digital divide
• @CodeLikeaGirl
• @StudioVeld
• the #incubating role of #henhousecoop 
• closing the #genderinvestmentgap
• structuring #flockcoop as a non-distributing, not-for-profit co-op, with a goal to;
  • #educate
  • #advocate
  • test some models about how we can disrupt the #patriarchy - rather than giving my $10 subscription to Silicon Valley or a bunch of blokes in a boardroom in San Francisco, or London, or New York, why not give it to another kind of system?  And so that was part of the provocation. 
  • disrupt #colonisation through cooperative mechanisms and cooperative endeavors
• how they plan to overcome challenges in the digital space so the #artists and #creators get better at putting their work into the world
• some inbuilt and equitable #tech processes e.g. a process where the content of the artisans gets completely refreshed every time you press it. So it's not just the ones who are making all the money that get up the top, which is what's typical in most of the other kinds of platforms like that
• #feministbusinessprinciples  and trying to build equity into the platform itself, as well as for the participants
• the incredible networks and fabulous people who have nurtured and supported #Flock
  • board members @KateSimpson and @PrekaVermont
  • individual women and non-binary folks who are really trying to change the world 
• @Mondragon
• the incredible support of @bccm
• how communities work, how money flows through communities, and how communities and that economic base can create the conditions for more equitable or more just relationships 
• how #firstnationspeople have been cooperative - there wasn't a legal structure around that but let's not pretend this is new
• it's always been the preferred model for humans to work together, and to look to First Nations for advice around that