For time immemorial, people have always come together to achieve great things. Whether to build the Great Wall of China or the World Wide Web, people have had to come around a central idea and work towards achieving it.
Money on the other hand has been a reason for which great partnerships have fallen apart. Greed for money, a lack of money or misuse of it among other reasons has always been the bane of this most important means of value.
In our contexts as Ghanaians and Africans, a lack of money is the main problem for entrepreneurs and young people starting a life.
So many have tried a variety of means- legal and otherwise, to raise money to kick start a business or enterprise. Others have essentially given up trying.
The prospect of getting significant funds to start a business from a source like a cooperative union is almost zero.
In Ghana, cooperative unions are a thing for middle aged mothers who have enough time on their hands to meet over the weekend, contribute some money for the next funeral, wedding or naming ceremony. Young people do not usually join cooperative unions and the mere suggestion that significant funds can be accessed to start a business would be met with delirious laughter.
Clearly, there is the psychological mould to break through to re-assert the power of cooperative unions.
But this notion has been allowed to thrive for far too long. All this changes now with the #Accra Credit Union.
A cooperative union is quite simply a type of company that is owned partly or wholly by it's members.
. "The #Accra Credit Union also known as the #Accra Cooperative Union is an autonomous community operating on multiple platforms, with a common purpose where members pledge and contribute funds towards a central pool. Members collectively agree on loans to viable enterprises started by any one member.
This is where the major benefits of the #Accra Cooperative Union become tangible.
The fundamental plan is to offer around the clock crypto capital services owned by members that cuts out traditional banking.
Through the power of crypto currency and the internet, funds are not routed through corporate financial organisations who skim off any profits realised and impede movement of funds with overbearing bureacracy.
Bitshares offers a lot of potential for loans on a blockchain. Yensesa is another platform available to the Cooperative Union.
This essentially is the rudiments of the Accra Credit Union.
The underlying motive is to bring closer than ever before, financial liberation and the ability to self determine financially to members of this co-op.
Please do get in touch through the comments. Let's share thoughts and progress with this evolving idea.