Call: Projects supporting business transfers to employees creating a cooperative in order to ensure the sustainability of SMEs

COSME is the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
COSME supports SMEs in the following areas:

• Accessing finance
• Opening markets
• Supporting entrepreneurs
• Improving business conditions

The main objective of this call for expressions of interest is to improve the environment for transferring businesses to employees or workers organised in cooperative form and to raise awareness about the benefits of a cooperative model in Europe. 

Projects to be supported under this call shall include the following categories of action:

• identification and assessment of the existing legislative, regulatory and administrative practices and support schemes that are related to cooperatives and/or are applied in the process of transferring businesses to employees/workers;
• development of a common methodology that could be used across Europe to produce comparable information on transfers of businesses to employees/workers organised into a cooperative;
• development of trans-European methods, training modules, practices and tools for advisors in business transfers on issues related to transfers to employees/workers and to the cooperative model so that advisors are equipped with the necessary expertise and knowledge to provide a comprehensive and cooperative-specific support during the whole transfer process;
• organisation of cross-border dedicated trainings, workshops or seminars for business transfer advisors to test new methods, training modules, practices and tools, including ways of assessing their efficiency and adaptability;
• promoting the option of transfers to employees/workers among entrepreneurs, employees and workers themselves, business associations, trade unions, financial institutions, credit groups and investment banks, trade associations, business support providers and public authorities;
• ensuring a proper transfer of knowledge and expertise on transferring a business to employees/workers and the cooperative model between the administrations of EU countries with a long cooperative tradition and those where the cooperative model is not sufficiently well known and recognised.

at least 3 entities from at leats 3 different Member States.