Cooperative Economics in Action: Employee Ownership and Community Development
As a business leader member of the Design Economics Coalition, Matthew Epperson brings a decade of cooperative development experience. As Employee Ownership Domain Expert for Zolidar, founder of the Georgia Cooperative Development Center (GCDC), and co-founder of Hive Mind Community Investment Co-op (HMCIC), Epperson works to make employee ownership and community-controlled economic development more accessible. We asked him about his work and its connection to design economics.
How do you explain the real-world impact of what your business does?
Zolidar: We make it easier for business owners to be bought out more fairly and more quickly by their employees compared to the very bespoke models that predominate today.
GCDC: We make it easier to start co-ops in Georgia by providing education, training, and information as well as technical assistance, particularly among our most divested communities.
HMCIC: We disrupt rapid and racialized displacement in northeast Georgia by creating permanently affordable real estate opportunities and business loans to our most divested neighbors.
What metrics beyond profit do you use to evaluate your business’s success?
It’s a lot to break down all three projects for this, but suffice to say, I’ve used Ends statements metrics to evaluate whether or not we’re delivering on our mission.
What creative business models or practices have you implemented?
I’ve implemented worker co-ops, consumer co-ops, nonprofits, and now I am forming my first shared services co-op.
How have the changing needs of your stakeholders shaped your business decisions?
Zolidar: We’ve shifted more towards the needs of exit planning advisors as opposed to just business owners, because we know advisors are often the trusted resource a business owner needs before beginning a transition conversation.
GCDC: We’ve adopted a Co-op Academy cohort training model as a way to reach more co-op entrepreneurs more quickly, easily, and conveniently (offering it online as well).
HMCIC: Our recent 5-point plan (food, care, power, safety, and capital) is our latest iteration of how we see the needs of northeast Georgia.
What changes has your company made to keep up with today’s economic challenges?
Across my projects, I am finding myself using AI more and more often simply as I try to keep pace with the rate of change impacting my various communities.
About This Interview
Design Economics Coalition members complete a self-interview exploring how their work connects to the three tenets of design economics: acknowledging change, embracing creativity, and cultivating literacy. These responses help connect professionals across sectors who are working to evolve economic systems.
Interested in joining the coalition? Contact us to learn more about membership.