Our Story

Ujamaa means  'extended family', 'brotherhood'  and reflects that a person becomes a person through the people or community -

"I am because we are".

 

The Ujamaa Cooperative Society Ltd. is founded upon the principle of co-operative economics and is aimed at circulating dollars within our local communities to build businesses, jobs, families and their standard of living. The longer our dollars circulate in our community, the more families we help.

How? Businesses expand and improve the products they offer and then hire more people at a higher pay. This means that families  grow and prosper and wealth creation within the community happens.

 

In a cooperative, we are not just consumers or members, we are also owners. A co-op is owned by the people who use it and operates for the benefit of its owners and community. Therefore, as a co-operative, our members work together for their own economic benefit - not for the benefit of a single owner as in privately owned businesses. At Ujamaa, profits are returned to owners (members) or are used to improve the Co-op's ability to meet owner needs.

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There are many types of co-ops. For example, producer co-ops provide goods or services to members who make products, such as farmers or artists. Consumer co-ops provide goods or services used by members for personal consumption.

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The Ujamaa Cooperative Society Ltd. is Barbados' first ever hybrid co-op that brings together more than one group of stakeholders - producers and consumers. These stakeholders are farmers and all types of producers, food brokers and consumers. The Co-op is owned by and operates for the benefit of these stakeholders. We buy from ourselves and earn a profit for ourselves!

 

At Ujamaa, "I am because we are!"
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