Social entrepreneurship by cooperative: examining value chain options of an indigenous fisherman’s co-op

Indigenous cooperative supporting community development objectives has potential to flourish as a social enterprise. Our study draws on social value creation and value chain to find value addition opportunities of a community-based cooperative. Field study was conducted in Norway House Cree Nation community, Northern Manitoba, Canada, adopting qualitative case study methods. We surveyed fisher-households and cooperative members. As well, we conducted semi-structured interviews with experts, government officials, NGO personnel, fish distributors, retailers, and marketing agents. We also held two focus group discussions in the community. We observed that the studied cooperative operates only as a supplier to the primary market. Results show that intervention in the upstream value chain with establishment of modern processing facilities would ensure cooperatives’ participation in the secondary markets, create employment opportunities in the community, and enhance its capacity for further social contributions. We conclude that value chain intervention, if made at the community level where producers work corporately as a primary suppliers under a cooperative, creates further value in the society.