Rethink Ireland

Rethink Ireland provides cash grants and business support to the social innovations, nonprofit organisations working in communities who can make a real difference. Our task is to fuel these innovations with the knowledge and the advice they’ll need to succeed on a nationally impactful scale. We’re here to open doors and give them access to the networks and connections who can help them spread their ideas throughout Ireland. We nurture communities of like-minded organisations who come together to share thoughts and approaches. Based in Galway, Cork and Dublin, our staff are strategically located to hold events, seminars and Accelerator programmes to support social innovations across the country.

Aoife Smith | The Care Co-op

Prof Diploma in Creativity, Innovation and Leadership at UCD Innovation Academy

What resources/support did you use/get externally?

What is the business about?

The Great Care Co-op (GCC) is Ireland's first worker cooperative in home care. The mission is to provide great care with great jobs.It is a not for profit social enterprise delivering home care to older/ vulnerable adults to assist them to live at home with a good quality of life as they age, and also to provide sustainable employment for care worker, the majority of whom are women and migrants.

Where did the idea come from?

The idea to set up a worker cooperative stemmed from almost two decades of grassroots campaigning and advocacy work with migrant women working in care and domestic work at the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland. There was a lot of frustration with the poor terms and conditions of work, the low wages, and the undervaluing of care workers, and migrant carers in particular also had to deal with racism and discrimination. We decided there had to be a better way and we decided to do it for ourselves and set up a democratic worker cooperative to bring a better model of home care and employment to the market.

What/who inspired you?

The women I was campaigning with, their everyday stories of bravery and overcoming negativity and fighting for better. The collective action, solidarity and vision for something better was inspiring.

Although GCC is designed to be financially sustainable on traded income we have to break even first so relied on philanthropic funding in addition to traded income to get started. In 2019, The Great Care Co-op won a Rethink Ireland grant for 3 years under the Equality Fund which was vital for us as we had just incorporated, it supported funding the business development work. GCC also won the Dublin City Social Enterprise Award in 2020 which also gave us important seed money to get the business up and running. Since then GCC successfully got funding through Community Foundation for Ireland to help us scale.

What advice do you have for budding entrepreneurs who have an idea that they want to bring to life?

Surround yourself with creative thinkers, visionaries who are not afraid to push boundaries and who thrive on change. Design sprints, testing, open to change and doing it differently all the time, listen and learn from others who have walked the path before you, use your judgement too, get out meet people, keep talking about your idea and taking steps all the time to move it forward.

Setting up a new business is all consuming, be sure to resource yourself and do stuff you like, if like me you get energy from trying out new things and are full of ideas, this is a great space for you, but watch your energy levels as going on all cylinders for prolonged time is draining. Don’t forget to take your foot off the gas sometimes.

Website: www.thegreatcarecoop.ie