Baoji, Shaanxi

May 22-24, 2014

 

On May 22 to 24 Gung Ho International and the Shandan Center for the Promotion and Development of Western Cooperatives sponsored a workshop for improving the business skills of women’s handicraft cooperatives in Baoji, Shaanxi Province. 22 people joined the workshop, including representatives from 8 handicraft cooperatives from Qianyang, Fengxiang, Chencang, Linyou, Wugong and Pucheng counties of Shaanxi and Sunan county in Gansu province. ICCIC General Secretary Zhang Yuanlin, representatives from the Baoji Women’s Federation and Zhang Xufeng of the Economic Management Bureau of the Shaanxi Agriculture Department also took part in the workshop.

 

The workshop kicked off with visits to the Fengxian Fuqiao Women’s Handicraft Cooperative and the Chengcang Guoguo Traditional Handicrafts Cooperative where participants saw the products of the cooperatives and shared ideas on design and production of handicrafts.On the first morning of the formal workshop each of the participants introduced their organization and products and relatedtheir experience managing cooperatives. Lively discussions followed on the opportunities and challenges of managing their organizations and developing their businesses.

 

Subsequent workshop sessions included basic financial analysis (calculating unit costs, budgeting and cash flow planning) and marketing (market segmentation, market placement and competition analysis). The final session of the workshop was used to explore the use of cooperative business models and identify ways for the cooperatives to strengthen their businesses andas well asstrengthen cooperation between cooperatives.

 

Opportunities identified for future cooperation included sharing design skills and sharing marketing information as well as opportunities for some cooperatives to utilize the waste material generated by the production processes other cooperatives.The possibility of future collaboration in the form of a federation or association of handicraft cooperatives was also raised.

 

The workshop helped to identify opportunities for future training and support activities to be undertaken by Gung Ho and the Shandan Center to continue supporting cooperative development and strengthening of cooperatives in northwest China.

 

Financial support for the workshop was generously provided by the Shaanxi Bin County Coal Company.

 

For more information contact:

Liu Guozhong: liugz1597@163.com