It is being dubbed as the best kept secret in Grenada!
The idea of cooperatives can be used as a tool to alleviate unemployment, poverty and other social woes in the country.
The department of cooperatives, which is located in the national cricket stadium, is promoting cooperatives as a business model, which could greatly benefit groups of individuals.
The cooperatives concept can have reverberating effects on Grenada’s economy, if only Grenadians breakaway from the apparent division or lack of trust among themselves.
That’s the belief of Brian Grimes, Senior Cooperatives Officer at the Department of Cooperatives.
Grimes told GBN that the cultural problem of distrust and fight down among peers is the greatest hindrance to fulfilling the cooperatives ideal.
At least ten individuals are needed to legally establish a cooperative which fosters teamwork, trust and belief in the business model.
The department of cooperatives has been engaged in a number of promotions and Grimes says they are breaking mental barriers as to the benefits of this business model. He says some of the benefits are that there are many tax exemptions including corporation tax as well as duty free concessions.
The senior cooperatives officer highlights that the ideal of cooperatives was most effective during Grenada’s revolutionary period.
However, the importance and relevance of cooperatives have since fallen out of the limelight.
The department is encouraging the formation of cooperatives which can be used in various forms and is not regulated to only agriculture or services.
The department of cooperatives oversees about 18 functioning companies, one of the more successful being the Commercial Transport Enterprise Cooperative Limited, commonly known as CTEC gas station, established since 1985.
