Vania Boyuklieva: Co-operatives will survive in a crisis

– Mrs Boyuklieva, you are Vice-President of the CCU, how to deal cooperatives in times of economic crisis? Businesses complain of a mass consumer demand bent.

– We are not insulated from the market. Consumption is shrinking everywhere. Moreover, in small towns where the main work. But fortunately in recent years managed to accumulate their own material and financial resources. Hopefully this will ensure the stability of our cooperative organizations and to reduce the effects of recession.
– Currently co-operatives provide over 100 million of jobs in the world. What are the new areas that are actively working?
– Co-operatives play a key role in the global economy because they are flexible and able to grow even in conditions of economic stagnation. There are other factors that help us. The process of globalization, demographic trends and the extension of the mutual trade opened up opportunities for new markets and new areas of activity. Thus appears the concept of „new generation cooperatives“ based on innovation in different economic sectors and social domains.
– Bulgarian consumer cooperatives include you in this concept?
– Definitely. Some of the features of new generation cooperatives, they are to develop sustainable businesses in various sectors are konkurentni and offer regional and local services to target groups who would not otherwise have access to them.
Organizations from the Central Cooperative Union covers a large part of those requirements. We have built structures in almost all localities. In the 854-member cooperatives they give us 162 000-member cooperative, and in our organizations are working nearly 12 000 people.
They are employed in many industrial fields such as trade, industry, bakery, tourism, agriculture, buying, service and provide an annual revenue growth of 20%.
– What are your strengths?
With joint efforts we managed to successfully organize and develop a single co-op market, with the result we already have their own COOP chain with over 500 outlets. They have approximately 50 000 square meters of sales space and offer over 5000 articles, of which 90 with own brand COOP.
For three years fully reconstructing some of their leading bakeries and now has 100 regional center on bakery, which the European level and provide bread for a number of locations and even neighborhoods in the country. We have a separate and private tourist circuit, which operates under the brand name „COOP – Your place for rest. This month to join her new cooperative sixth hotel in Nessebar. We realize purchasing activity, which has provided financial resources and markets, and agriculture and forestry, which are evolving rapidly.
– Your strategy for development up to 2011 covers many areas. I’ll be able to deal with them in current conditions?
– Rely heavily on our staff and our partners in Europe. Household and it proves our upcoming conference and the General Assembly of our European Organization Cooperative Europe.