Pellervo Coop Center
Central Organisation of Finnish Cooperatives
About Pellervo
Pellervo is a service and a lobbying organisation for all Finnish co-operatives and mutuals and a forum for co-operative activities.
Our goal is to make the co-operative and mutual business model more known to the public and offer the co-operative model as a competitive alternative for those thinking about starting a business.
Pellervo was founded in 1899 and the Pellervo name comes from the national epic of Finland Kalevala where Sampsa Pellervoinen is the patron of field and harvest.
Advocacy work
Pellervo strives to influence the legislative work and the economic and financial policies in Finland to accommodate the cooperative business model.
Pellervo’s message to the decision-makers: Diversity of business models increases economic performance
- One business model – investor owned – is not enough
- Cooperative businesses play a significant role in the everyday life of people
- The scope of cooperatives is constantly expanding
- Over 3 000 cooperatives and mutuals
- Over 7 million memberships
- Cooperatives mean Finnish ownership
- They invest in Finland
Current issues and themes:
- The government's Entrepreneurship Strategy
- The Parliament's Co-operative Group
- Government’s action plan 2019-2023
- Entrepreneurship education at schools
- Research and teaching
- Start-up advice
- Co-operative governance
- Sustainability and CSR
First cooperative in Finland to list on a stock exchange
The investment cooperative Arvo from Ostrobothnia has been listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange’s First North growth market. Arvo is the first cooperative whose shares are listed on Nasdaq’s stock exchange lists in the Nordic markets.
Tero Mustonen founder of Snowchange Cooperative, received the Goldman Prize, the environmental “Nobel”
Professional fisherman, docent Tero Mustonen has received the Goldman Environmental Prize in the USA. It is the world’s most significant environmental award, also called the Green Nobel Prize. It’s a tribute to ordinary people who have done extraordinary things to protect the planet. The Prize was awarded to Finland for the first time.