Why cooperative?

Why cooperative

From chats to the cooperative

It might seem curious to have to explain this, but the truth is that we are asked about it a lot. Why a cooperative? Why not a "conventional" company?

The decision is not the result of a strategic plan, but of many hours of conversation. After those first years when we met (/nosotros/quienes-somos/como-empezo-todo), we spent hours talking and trying to solve the typical problems of the world: labor, personal…

Long, comforting chats full of ideas. Some remained in conversation, and others ended up becoming real projects, like Datola (https://datola.es/) or, now, nosDeu.

In those conversations, we always repeated the same thing: another way of doing things was possible. A different way of understanding work, time, impact, and value, both in the company and in our own lives.

And there was always one person, Antonio (https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonio-pena-santiso-9a524b52/), who grumbled about everything, debated endlessly, and, with an immense heart, told us:

It's called a cooperative, and it's a way to fight against ruthless capitalism.

Although we also like to see it as José Luis Antúnez (https://jlantunez.com/#:~:text=El%20capitalismo%2C%20cuando%20se%20hace%20bien%2C%20es%20el%20mejor%20de%20los%20humanismos.) says:

Capitalism, when done right, is the greatest of humanisms.

We chose to be a cooperative because we are not looking to optimize profits, but to live well from our work, with flexibility and autonomy. Because we believe that projects work better when those who do them are also part of them.

Not everyone has to feel part of this to work with us, but if someone wants to be, if they fit in and share our way of seeing things, they can be part of it in one way or another.

On the path to this decision, we encountered many furrowed brows and heard quite a few comments:

If nobody does it, there must be a reason.

From stereotype to pride

And, of course, the occasional comment, dismissively, mistakenly associating cooperativism with the rural world:

Are you going to sell feed? Wine?

All of that further reinforced our idea to move forward. Because we didn't want to jump into this pool only to, at the first opportunity, end up doing the very thing we were preaching against.

Just as one of our strengths is building bridges and breaking down silos, why not also start by breaking down stereotypes and prejudices?

And above all, to feel immense pride in the rural that is where we were born, raised, and live.

From that rintintín (a subtle hint or echo) was born a way of differentiating ourselves, which represents us and of which we are proud.

We hope that even those who never work with us will remember nosDeu for something like this: for being a cooperative, for being rural, for building community (/nosotros/quienes-somos/como-empezo-todo#la-comunidad), or simply for trying to do things differently. But, after all, one wants to be remembered.