3.2.3.2 Koinsep Ekati (KE)

Koinsep Ekati (KE) is a Koinsep of Collective and Productive Purpose. KE was founded in August 2012 by a mixed team of agriculturalists, geo-technicians and the President of the Greek Homeless Association (AS Interview, 16 January 2014).1 In accordance with its statutory purpose, KE provides services with respect to spatial planning, green management and recycling as well as services for the protection, care and nursing of pets and stray animals.2 Following a public policy scheme that was similar to the one adopted by KMY, KE, in its start-up phase, concluded a public contract with the Municipality of Athens to protect and provide daily care to more than 120 stray animals in a small animal nursery facilitated by the Municipality of Athens for a period of 18 months. To implement the project, KE employed a total of five employees (one veterinary doctor and four animal care givers).

KE has eight members. According to one KE member, admitted members can be any natural or legal person who aspires towards KE’s social goals and activities, except for local administrative authorities and public law entities which are excluded by law (AS Interview, 16 January 2014).3 KE’s most powerful governance body is the general meeting of the members. This is not only because of its competence to decide on the most important organisational matters, but also because of the supervision and controls that it exercises over KE’s managing committee. The members in the general meeting of members can decide by voting with one vote. KE is a small organisation with a total of eight cooperative shareholders and members, five employees and three members of the managing committee. These have been directly elected by the general meeting of the members. On a monthly basis, KE’s managing committee decides on mainstream issues that affect the administration and management of the enterprise. The meetings of the managing committee, although open to all members, are not open to third parties and/or to employee-non-members (AS Interview, 16 January 2014).4 The managing committee is responsible for communicating the decisions made during their sessions to members and to employees (AS Interview, 16 January 2014).5 In KE’s case, this means that employees and other stakeholders are not involved in the decision-making process of the managing committee. Nevertheless, informal consultation processes may take place concerning technical matters on the basis of the employees’ expertise (AS Interview, 16 January 2014; AF Interview, 16 January 2014).6

As of June 2014, none of KE’s employees had become a member of the enterprise, and neither had any volunteers assisting KE’s operations requested membership. This lack of motivation on the part of employees and other stakeholders to participate in membership, and thus in governance, is justified. The justification rests on the fact that KE’s members provided very limited information to employees and other stakeholders regarding this opportunity. Additionally, financial concerns arose in an adverse economic and financial environment. As one respondent mentioned, KE’s core focus was the expansion of the organisation and the fulfilment of its social objectives rather the enlarge-ment of stakeholder participation in KE’s governance (AS Interview 16 January 2014).7 This again shows, in line with Campi et al., that the multi-stakeholder character of a social enterprise does indeed depend substantially on the autonomous decisions of its founders and owners in cases where the legal framework permits but does not require the participation of employees and other stakeholders.8 However, as was mentioned earlier, other institutional factors and the personal motivations of stakeholders also play a role. For instance, many respondents mentioned that Greek society is generally unaware of the institutional and legal framework concerning Koinseps in Greece and of the opportunities that this legal form offers to social entrepreneurs and stakeholders (AS Interview, 16 January 2014; AF Interview, 16 January 2014).9