The 3Cs that hold a cooperative together

The story of cooperatives in Nepal is not particularly old. It began on April 2, 1957, when Bakhan Cooperative Society was established in what was then Bakhanpur, now Sharadanagar, Chitwan, becoming the country’s first cooperative institution. Given this history, cooperatives may appear, at first glance, to be built around money: savings, loans, investment, interest and returns. But look more closely, and the real story of a cooperative begins not with money, but with people and trust. That trust is sustained, day after day, by three simple yet powerful elements: information, timing and understanding.

Most urban cooperatives that have emerged over the past two or three decades were founded by people who came to the cities to run businesses, take up jobs, work as daily wage earners or pursue other professions. They were bound not by capital, but by a shared purpose. Some may not have had much money, but they shared a common goal. This is why a cooperative is never merely an economic institution; it is also an institution of shared trust.