South West co-operative Development
Working co-operatively for social enterprise
Hello! We’re South West Co-op Development, or SWCD for short. We’re a co-operative development body – we bring people together to serve communities and achieve social progress through the business activities. In particular, it is democratic social enterprises that are owned by the people who rely upon them – businesses defined by the international co-operative principles – that we specialise in.
So much can and has been achieved through co-operative and community ownership and working. From a community working together to save a beloved pub from closing to people coming together to establish public transport to better serve their community and the environment. At SWCD, we support those seeking to redress social, economic and environmental factors and to work in a fairer way through co-operation.
We have worked in a diverse range of sectors including sustainable energy, transport, housing, farming and leisure. Our clients range from the very smallest projects at the grassroots up to large and fast-growing businesses requiring complex finance and management structures.
Click the links below to find out how we can help you.
Our main services
Consultancy
SWCD provides business development advice for all forms of new and existing co-operative, community-owned enterprises and social enterprises. Consultancy covers everything from initial advice to entrepreneurs starting out, feasibility studies and market research; all the way to detailed analysis and financial modelling for established organisations.
Registrations
SWCD provides a complete registration service for legal structures for a wide range of social enterprises.
We can help make sense of the different legal structures and help you identify the most suitable structure to enable your enterprise to flourish.
Office support
SWCD provides a comprehensive business outsourcing service to give a capacity boost for overstretched teams.
If you find yourselves needing extra support for background tasks – from bookkeeping and administration to project management but cannot justify the expense and commitment of employing more staff, SWCD can provide skilled personnel on flexible contracts as an alternative.
Raising finance
Businesses need funding at different phases of their lifetime. SWCD can help in a number of ways: advising on financial models; raising social investment and Community Shares, and support with grant funding.
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South West Co-operative Development Limited
Registered as a Multistakeholder Community Benefit Society: 31193R
Registered office address: 10 East Reach, Taunton TA1 3EW
Office phone: 0300 456 2265
Email: services@southwest.coop