The collective economy is booming in Quebec. Even the pandemic has not slowed down the creation of new social enterprises. These take the form of non-profit organizations (NPOs), cooperatives and mutuals and are a real economic force that is often unsuspected.
Quebec has approximately 11,200 collective enterprises1 that generates $47 billion in sales annually. They employ nearly 220,000 people. What makes them special is that they exchange goods and services to meet the needs of their members or the community without seeking profit at any price.
They can be found in a wide variety of sectors: food, insurance, housing, retail, tourism, but also in areas where we are less used to seeing them, such as microbreweries, restaurants, communications, information technology and agricultural production.
If they put their mission before profit, it is not at the expense of economic viability. They do business in a different way, aiming to achieve both their mission and their sales objectives. In these organizations, social profitability is on the same level as economic profitability.
The pandemic, climate change, labour shortages… These are all reasons that call for a rethinking of the way we work, produce and consume, and this could help accelerate collective entrepreneurship and its innovative business models.
For collective enterprises, as for any other organization, financing is the sinews of war. As NPOs, they have access to various financial resources to achieve their mission.
Are you a collective enterprise with development projects? Our experts can help you establish financing strategies that meet your needs.
