Series - Editorial Fellowship: Social Finance in Canada Suncor Energy Foundation 2023/24

In conversation with Mansib Rahman, co-founder and CEO of Radish

Author Diane Berard

Why It Matters

Montrealโ€™s Radish plans to be the first co-op in the world to issue shares. Those shares would not guarantee voting rights, only economic rights. Co-op members would keep all the influence. Will it work? This conversation concerns financial innovation, financeโ€™s role in hyper-local ventures, investorsโ€™ extra-financial motivations, and the risk of mixing money and the common good.

What isย Radish Co-op? It is a food delivery application, like Uber and DoorDash, structured as a co-op. Our members, the restaurants, the employees, including the drivers and the consumers, own us. What problem are you addressing? Restaurants are precarious businesses. In the U.S., I believe more than 42 per cent of workers live under the poverty line. They have no savings, and they canโ€™t move forward. And the arrival of big delivery platforms, with their high fees, proved detrimental to the sectorโ€™s health.

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