Mercury’s journey has been intertwined with its members. The co-operative has long been a service provider of training and education, on the wide spectrum of matters concerning starting and running of co-operatives and other collaborative enterprises.
These learning events were delivered, or curated, by co-operative members delivering to those members income. Over time, as the both the members and needs changed, so did the topics and themes that were been embraced.
In 2019 the Board pondered the future for Mercury taking to account the needs of the current members, and the value of the accumulated knowledge and resources within the co-operative. It determined that there was sense in accepting as opening the membership to like minded collaborators that may seek knowledge, or wish to work with us to add value to the community.
We redefined our primary activity of the Co-operative to be to foster a values based, best practice approach to collaborative enterprise built on the principles of self help, accountability, transparency, financial sustainability, and genuine participation of members.