In today’s world—dominated by capitalism and market-driven economies—cooperative enterprises are gaining recognition for their potential to achieve sustainability goals. Grounded in democratic ownership and economic participation, cooperatives offer a distinctive form of entrepreneurship that reconciles economic viability with social purpose.
By generating economic value while strengthening internal cohesion, cooperatives provide self-help mechanisms and community-driven responses to pressing environmental, social, democratic and economic challenges.
Yet, despite their growing impact and economic relevance, knowledge of the cooperative model remains limited and uneven. This MOOC seeks to address that gap by building both conceptual understanding and practical proficiency in cooperative entrepreneurship.
This course is designed for a wide audience, including:
- Bachelor’s and Master’s students in Business, Economics, and Social Sciences
- (Future) entrepreneurs
- Cooperative members, managers, and directors
- Educators and researchers
- Policy experts
- International development practitioners
Its participatory model enables learners across the world to engage with rich, practice-oriented content.
This MOOC is funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) through the SBO project ‘Governance of co-operative enterprises under pressure: A multilevel and holistic approach’ (grant number S006019N) and developed at KCO KU Leuven, supported by the Cera/Boerenbond Chair on Cooperative Entrepreneurship.
