.Coop eNewsletter

June 10, 2010

ICAExpo 2010 Provides Business Opportunities

Asia has been strategically chosen to host the second edition of ICAExpo 2010, which will be held from 8th to 10th of December in Bangalore, India-one of the largest emerging markets of the region both in the co-operative sector and consumer market of products and services. With an area of 44,482,000 km², Asia is the biggest continent in the world with 29.4% of the world's land area. It is also the most populous with 3.95 billion inhabitants. Asia has a growing middle class with a high demand for products, especially in the food and beverage sectors and so it provides interesting market possibilities.

ICAExpo 2010 will open up new markets to the co-operative sector and provide co-operatives with the opportunity to do significant business. The organisers of ICAExpo are already selecting buyers who will be invited to maximise the sales potential for the products of those co-operatives who have already confirmed participation as exhibitors at ICAExpo 2010.
Visionary co-operatives will benefit from participating in this unique event for the sector. Don't miss this opportunity!

For more information, visit www.icaexpo.coop and contact the ICA Expo team at icaexpo@icaexpo.coop .

Domains.Coop is an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar dedicated to providing .coop domain names, as well as internet tools, to cooperatives across the globe.

Domains.Coop was the very first .coop registrar and was accredited by ICANN in 2002, when it was a worker-owned cooperative. In 2004, Domains.Coop became part of The Midcounties Co-operative, the second largest independent cooperative in the UK which includes a number of diverse retail businesses.

Domains.Coop is a registrar with a unique business model in that its whole focus is the .coop domain. However, whilst the focus is on .coop, we realise that many organisations wish to secure their brand in more than one domain name. Therefore Domains.Coop offers its customers a wide selection of domains alongside .coop and a secure platform for maintaining their portfolio of domain names.

Domains.Coop works closely with a number of partner organisations within the cooperative movement to ensure that the needs of .coop customers from across the globe are fully met. Because of this network of regional partners, Domains.Coop is able to offer first class customer support for using .coop. Visitors to www.domains.coop can easily select on a map the sales partner that will provide them local support in their language and time zone. Alternatively you can visit directly our cooperative partners' sites in the various regions:

National Cooperative Business Association (US & Canada)
Alianza Cooperativa Internacional para las Américas (Mexico, Central and South America)
Co-operatives UK (UK & Ireland)
New Zealand Cooperatives Association (Pacific)
Co-operative Alliance of Kenya (Africa)

Co-ops from Europe can visit www.europe.coop or one of our current national sales partners www.domaine.coop in France and www.dominios.coop in Spain.

"At Domains.Coop, we value the importance of promoting a cooperative way of doing business and we believe .coop is a great tool for achieving this. By enabling cooperatives to develop a strong online brand we are supporting the development of a strong global cooperative movement", says Violetta Nafpaktiti, Domains.Coop Manager.

Domains.Coop is now offering a one year .coop registration for free to coops that have never used .coop before. Existing customers can also benefit from renewal discounts if they refer a new .coop registrant.

To contact Domains.Coop, visit http://www.domains.coop or email Violetta at info@domains.coop.

Farmer Direct Receives Domestic Fair Trade Certification

Farmer Direct Co-operative Ltd. (www.farmerdirect.coop ), a farmer-owned business of 70 certified organic family farms is the first business in Canada and the United States to receive domestic fair trade certification. "People usually associate fair trade with coffee, sugar, bananas and other crops from the global south, but fair wages to farm workers and fair prices to farmers are just as much a concern in industrialized nations like Canada and the United States," explains Murray Horkoff, a FDC farmer-owner from Kamsack, SK. "Now organic consumers can purchase fairly traded, flax, wheat, beans, hemp, peas, lentils and other crops grown in the Northern Hemisphere," adds Horkoff.

To purchase fairDeal grains or for more information about Farmer Direct Co-op please contact Jason Freeman, General Manager at 1.306.352. 2444 or jason@farmerdirect.coop .

Co-op Events Around the World

19 June - 3 July - Co-operative Fortnight - Eleven Million Co-operative Members celebrate their co-ops in the UK - www.thereisanalternative.coop.

29 June - ACI Américas - 20th Anniversary Celebration in San Jose, Costa Rica at the Regional Office. For more information see www.aciamericas.coop .

3 July -International Day of Co-operatives - Co-operative Enterprise Empowers Women.

Let us know any events that you would like to promote to the cooperative community at support@nic.coop .

In Their Own Words. . .

What's the S.COOP?

s.coop shortens long web addresses into neat, tiny s.coop URLs to be used on the web (Twitter, Facebook etc . . .) or even in print. So gone are the days of another long web address taking up precious space in Tweets or forcing readers to type in long, laborious URLs from publications.

s.coop has been created by Co-operative Press publishers of theNews.coop and the printed-publication Co-operative News.

One of the aims of this website is to also promote the dotCoop domain name, which can be used by co-operatives the world over. One of the problems though is the lack of recognition from the general public. With a little help from you though, our fun and friendly s.coop address will help to increase knowledge of the many dotCoop addresses that are run by democratic, ethical businesses around the world.

Ed. Note: S.Coop is one of our 1-character domain names. You can get 1 & 2 character domain names at no extra charge - contact us now for the best selection.

RCC.COOP

RCC es una cooperativa argentina de servicios fundada en 1995.

Fue creada en el seno del Instituto Movilizador de Fondos Cooperativos por dirigentes y funcionarios con una vasta experiencia y trayectoria de más de 15 años en el área de las telecomunicaciones.

Para cumplir con la misión fundacional de la cooperativa se idearon servicios de comercio electrónico y contenidos, así como la creación y administración posterior de una amplia red de acceso a ellos desde distintas ciudades de todo el país, llegando a cubrir todas las provincias de nuestro territorio nacional.

Precursora en el esfuerzo por contribuir al acortamiento de la brecha tecnológica entre sus asociados, RCC se fijó como uno de sus objetivos principales la utilización de las llamadas nuevas tecnologías, creando para ello las herramientas y servicios que permitan a las PyMES, profesionales y demás organizaciones sociales del país, acercarse a las mismas y utilizarlas como forma de inclusión, crecimiento y desarrollo socioeconómico.

La ayuda a la pequeña y mediana empresa nacional junto a aquellas de carácter social, fueron y son también una de las premisas fundamentales de nuestra cooperativa.

WANANCHISACCO.COOP

WANANCHI SACCO is a capable and fast growing society located in Nyeri district, central province of Kenya. The idea of forming WANANCHI SACCO was mooted in 1991 by the then Nyeri District Tea Committee and Tea Officer of 1991- 1993 periods.
After the consultations with Tea Growers from the three tea growing areas namely Mathira, Tetu and Othaya Divisions, the society was formed with the aim of helping tea growers to improve their saving and enable them to borrow for different purposes such as development, school fees and funding micro enterprises. It was started in 1993 with only 827 members, two employees and a share capital of Ksh. 1.2 million.
By November 2009, 17 years later it had grown to have 30,466 members, 13,044 account holders, 73 employees and share capital of over 333,713,000 million.

PRISMA.COOP

Prisma è una cooperativa sociale nata nel 2001 con sede amministrativa a Meta di Sorrento attiva nella progettazione e gestione di servizi sociali, socio-educativi ed assistenziali per i minori, nella ricerca sociale e nello sviluppo economico a livello locale.

Consorziati a Gesco sociale dal 2004, il primo obiettivo di Prisma è dare impulso a un processo di promozione di cambiamenti del tessuto sociale, economico e culturale, elaborando coi nostri servizi e la professionalità dei nostri operatori strategie significative per radicare una cultura dei diritti dei cittadini, dei minori, delle famiglie e delle donne.

Special Offer Still Available from Select Registrars

Just a reminder that new .coop registrants can get their first domain at no charge for the first year. Some registrars are also offering discounts on the first renewal. Tell the other co-ops in your community and check with us about participating registrars.
Contact us at Support@nic.Coop for a list of participating Registrars.