The Channel Islands Co-operative Society showcased on world stage

Thursday 05 May 2016

Colin Macleod, Chief Executive of The Channel Islands Co-operative Society, has just returned from Brussels where he has been showcasing the Society to an audience representing 20,000 co-operatives from across the world.

Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide is an annual event, which aims to showcase the world’s leading co-operatives, to enable them to share common experiences and to learn from one another.

"Being asked to speak at such a prestigious event is an honour," said Mr Macleod.

"I am incredibly proud of our Society and the fact that we can genuinely say we are truly locally owned and led and we are an integral part of the local community. I received incredibly positive feedback from the delegates at the event who were impressed by our agility and responsiveness, how deeply embedded we are in our local community and by our member engagement levels.

"The Channel Islands is a comparatively small Society when considered on a global scale but it has incredibly high levels of member engagement. 93% of our transactions are with members, we offer an unprecedented dividend at 4%, doubled on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and we have a significantly higher market share than our global counterparts. Many larger co-operatives find it difficult to be locally relevant and it is this that makes us unique in the co-operative movement."

Co-operative movement representatives attended the event, which was held in the European Economic and Social Committee building in Brussels on 19th April, from countries across the world including India, Australia, Canada and Sri Lanka.  Mr Macleod, who sits on a subsidiary board of the Co-operative Group charged with overseeing collaborative activities across the British Co-ops,, is currently leading a project to establish partnerships with other European movements. He is also a board member of Euro Coop, the voice of 4,500 co-operative retailers in 19 European countries.

"Hearing the positive responses of so many leading co-operative representatives to our Channel Island story reminded me that we often take for granted, as islanders, that we own a stake in our own, local supermarket chain and share in the benefits of this," said Mr Macleod.