Financial Planning: Some Strategies for Growth 

To grow your business you need to know your business: what's working, what's not working, and how do you find the answers to these questions? This workshop will review the basics of planning for growth in small to medium co-ops - feasibility studies, market analysis, business plans, preparing financials for lenders, and staging growth. My intention is to demystify the process and offer common sense approaches in plain language.

Melissa Hoover has worked in cooperatives and collectives almost all her working life. Currently the Executive Director of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, she also works with the Association of Arizmendi Cooperatives in the Bay Area, doing financial trainings for workers and supporting the financial operations of the bakeries. She also consults in financial literacy, financial management and Radical Effectiveness for worker cooperatives and small businesses. Her work is informed by the belief that economic literacy for all workers is not only possible, it is essential for strong co-ops, and especially critical to building an economic alternative. She believes passionately in the possibilities of real democracy and would like to convene an 8-hour consensus meeting to discuss this premise.