A different approach to ownership

• Want to reevaluate your shareholder structure, tailoring it to your strategy?
• Are you exploring external funding and considering a (thought) exercise on the ownership of your company?

Effectively executing a strategy relies heavily on its structural framework, from role distribution to decision-making to ownership. Many impact entrepreneurs catch on to this and explore different approaches to ownership. This helps to realise their impact strategy and keep making an impact at the forefront of their priorities.

History has produced various forms of ownership. However, the Anglo-Saxon emphasis on shareholder value prevailed—currently posing a barrier to solving many societal issues. 

Ownership is typically associated with money and stocks. But it doesn’t have to be that way. How about associating it with entrepreneurship instead?

Ask yourself the following question. Could a worker cooperative, a producer cooperative, a franchise cooperative, or a customer cooperative be beneficial in realising your strategy? If yes, why? If not, why?

Or should you take it even further, with steward-ownership as a different approach to ownership? This approach is gaining momentum everywhere and is regarded as the go-to model for impact entrepreneurs. Steward-ownership empowers you to permanently embed your mission, autonomy, and self-governance into the legal DNA.

In certain cases, steward-ownership is the perfect framework to execute your strategy,  accelerate your impact, and safeguard your mission once and for all. This approach leads to a stable organisation with a strong focus on its mission—through thick and thin, with the stewards’ intrinsic motivation as the driving force.

Together with you, we delve into various ownership options, both short-term and long-term. We weigh the pros and cons and consider hybrid alternatives. An exciting adventure that requires a touch of boldness—without taboos, and meticulously customised to your needs.