A cooperative, in the traditional sense, is nothing other than people with common goals, with a certain amount of resources, coming together to form and develop a working synergy so those goals can be achieved.
Gathering together collectively in this manner is important to the work of The Women’s Bakery due to the fact that it is not easy to collaborate, grow, and develop in isolation or at the individual level.
At the bakery, women’s capabilities and powers are raised to grow and work together so credibility of our product and business is built.
Though, the cooperative model is something that our groups of women are used to – developing this into a business model takes time, but it’s happening. My internship was largely about marketing, however, I was able to continue to learn and experience the business model first-hand.
With various capacities, specifically at the Remera Bakery, the women are creating competitive advantages to the working environment that allow for greater efficiency and stream-lined daily operations. These are workflows that groups of women are trained in, and then experience further development upon extending time within the bakery.
My time with TWB has been full of joy, learning, and encouragement with the TWB team and women within the bakery. There are a lot of challenges when it comes to introducing a new product to customers, which was the focus of my internship, but what is amazing is that all our women have faced it and remained persistent in any difficulty faced. I have learned about this kind of business acumen and how to work together cooperatively, and still in the business context.
This is in fact, cooperation, and real bread power.
Together we rise.
