News & Commentary
News & Commentary
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September 2025
September 2025
Glasgow's Democratic Business Summit — Fewer than 50 tickets left
Upcoming Events
Upcoming Events
Following successful conferences in Manchester and Cardiff, Stir to Action’s Centre for Democratic Business is hosting this year’s Democratic Business Summit in Glasgow with a keynote from Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow.
As a national gathering designed to unite pro-ownership business movements from across the UK, Glasgow offers the perfect setting. With its strong industrial legacy and thriving community of democratic businesses, the city sets an inspiring backdrop for this year’s summit.
Scotland’s forward-thinking approach, highlighted by the introduction of the Community Wealth Building Bill, also makes it an ideal place to explore how policy can shape the future of democratic business within the UK economy.
This year’s programme will feature James de le Vingne – CEO, Employee Ownership Association, Morven Lyon – Head of Democratic Finance Scotland), and Scott Darraugh MBE– CEO of Social Adventures leading a discussion on how the Employee, Co-operative, and Community Business sectors can harness the momentum of the UK Government’s ambition to ‘double the size of the co-operative and mutual economy’ - a pivotal opportunity for scaling models that root economic power in the hands of workers and communities.
Closer to home, the programme also features an intimate interview with Naomi Mason (CLES) and a senior Scottish Government official in the Community Wealth Building Unit, which will explore the opportunities for democratic businesses in advancing this approach in Scotland.
With commitments in both Westminster and Holyrood pointing towards a stronger future for democratic business, this summit comes at a critical moment to connect ideas, share practice, and build collective ambition across the UK.
Suzanne Orchard, Centre for Democratic Business Co-Lead said: “I’m so happy the Democratic Business Summit is coming to my home, Glasgow – uniting the people and sector I care deeply about. There’s so much energy here, and I urge people to come ready to roll up their sleeves and get practical about what we need to do to move forward together as a united democratic business movement. Yes, we all have our own agendas and preferred models but there’s real value in panning out to ask what would collectively benefit us all, so we can make even bigger strides forward.”
Join us for a day of panels and roundtables to build a stronger business movement over the next few years.
Key details
This event is open to and aimed at those working to promote the power of democratic businesses in local authorities, universities, federations, funding bodies and parliament/national government.
The Centre for Democratic Business is Stir to Action’s specialist home for our work on transforming business and advancing democracy in our workplaces and communities through partnerships with local and national government, industry bodies, membership associations, and foundations. CfDB provides economic development and support programmes for democratic business in the UK.
The Democratic Business Summit 2025 is run in partnership with Stir to Action, Scotmid Co-operative, Glasgow City Council and Ethex, with support from Democratic Finance Scotland, Co-operate Scotland, and Greencity Wholefoods.
See you there
Tickets are £75+VAT. Find out more and book here.
Co-operate Scotland is offering bursaries to support ticket and travel costs for attendees based in Scotland. To enquire about eligibility, please contact: hello@co-operate.scot
How you can help
Help us spread the word about this year’s Summit. If you have people in your networks that might benefit from attending, please share the following messages in your relevant channels. Sample newsletter/blog copy and social posts are below to make this easy for you.
For more information about the event and how to become a sponsor, please contact jonny@democraticbusiness.org.
Following successful conferences in Manchester and Cardiff, Stir to Action’s Centre for Democratic Business is hosting this year’s Democratic Business Summit in Glasgow with a keynote from Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow.
As a national gathering designed to unite pro-ownership business movements from across the UK, Glasgow offers the perfect setting. With its strong industrial legacy and thriving community of democratic businesses, the city sets an inspiring backdrop for this year’s summit.
Scotland’s forward-thinking approach, highlighted by the introduction of the Community Wealth Building Bill, also makes it an ideal place to explore how policy can shape the future of democratic business within the UK economy.
This year’s programme will feature James de le Vingne – CEO, Employee Ownership Association, Morven Lyon – Head of Democratic Finance Scotland), and Scott Darraugh MBE– CEO of Social Adventures leading a discussion on how the Employee, Co-operative, and Community Business sectors can harness the momentum of the UK Government’s ambition to ‘double the size of the co-operative and mutual economy’ - a pivotal opportunity for scaling models that root economic power in the hands of workers and communities.
Closer to home, the programme also features an intimate interview with Naomi Mason (CLES) and a senior Scottish Government official in the Community Wealth Building Unit, which will explore the opportunities for democratic businesses in advancing this approach in Scotland.
With commitments in both Westminster and Holyrood pointing towards a stronger future for democratic business, this summit comes at a critical moment to connect ideas, share practice, and build collective ambition across the UK.
Suzanne Orchard, Centre for Democratic Business Co-Lead said: “I’m so happy the Democratic Business Summit is coming to my home, Glasgow – uniting the people and sector I care deeply about. There’s so much energy here, and I urge people to come ready to roll up their sleeves and get practical about what we need to do to move forward together as a united democratic business movement. Yes, we all have our own agendas and preferred models but there’s real value in panning out to ask what would collectively benefit us all, so we can make even bigger strides forward.”
Join us for a day of panels and roundtables to build a stronger business movement over the next few years.
Key details
This event is open to and aimed at those working to promote the power of democratic businesses in local authorities, universities, federations, funding bodies and parliament/national government.
The Centre for Democratic Business is Stir to Action’s specialist home for our work on transforming business and advancing democracy in our workplaces and communities through partnerships with local and national government, industry bodies, membership associations, and foundations. CfDB provides economic development and support programmes for democratic business in the UK.
The Democratic Business Summit 2025 is run in partnership with Stir to Action, Scotmid Co-operative, Glasgow City Council and Ethex, with support from Democratic Finance Scotland, Co-operate Scotland, and Greencity Wholefoods.
See you there
Tickets are £75+VAT. Find out more and book here.
Co-operate Scotland is offering bursaries to support ticket and travel costs for attendees based in Scotland. To enquire about eligibility, please contact: hello@co-operate.scot
How you can help
Help us spread the word about this year’s Summit. If you have people in your networks that might benefit from attending, please share the following messages in your relevant channels. Sample newsletter/blog copy and social posts are below to make this easy for you.
For more information about the event and how to become a sponsor, please contact jonny@democraticbusiness.org.
Following successful conferences in Manchester and Cardiff, Stir to Action’s Centre for Democratic Business is hosting this year’s Democratic Business Summit in Glasgow with a keynote from Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow.
As a national gathering designed to unite pro-ownership business movements from across the UK, Glasgow offers the perfect setting. With its strong industrial legacy and thriving community of democratic businesses, the city sets an inspiring backdrop for this year’s summit.
Scotland’s forward-thinking approach, highlighted by the introduction of the Community Wealth Building Bill, also makes it an ideal place to explore how policy can shape the future of democratic business within the UK economy.
This year’s programme will feature James de le Vingne – CEO, Employee Ownership Association, Morven Lyon – Head of Democratic Finance Scotland), and Scott Darraugh MBE– CEO of Social Adventures leading a discussion on how the Employee, Co-operative, and Community Business sectors can harness the momentum of the UK Government’s ambition to ‘double the size of the co-operative and mutual economy’ - a pivotal opportunity for scaling models that root economic power in the hands of workers and communities.
Closer to home, the programme also features an intimate interview with Naomi Mason (CLES) and a senior Scottish Government official in the Community Wealth Building Unit, which will explore the opportunities for democratic businesses in advancing this approach in Scotland.
With commitments in both Westminster and Holyrood pointing towards a stronger future for democratic business, this summit comes at a critical moment to connect ideas, share practice, and build collective ambition across the UK.
Suzanne Orchard, Centre for Democratic Business Co-Lead said: “I’m so happy the Democratic Business Summit is coming to my home, Glasgow – uniting the people and sector I care deeply about. There’s so much energy here, and I urge people to come ready to roll up their sleeves and get practical about what we need to do to move forward together as a united democratic business movement. Yes, we all have our own agendas and preferred models but there’s real value in panning out to ask what would collectively benefit us all, so we can make even bigger strides forward.”
Join us for a day of panels and roundtables to build a stronger business movement over the next few years.
Key details
This event is open to and aimed at those working to promote the power of democratic businesses in local authorities, universities, federations, funding bodies and parliament/national government.
The Centre for Democratic Business is Stir to Action’s specialist home for our work on transforming business and advancing democracy in our workplaces and communities through partnerships with local and national government, industry bodies, membership associations, and foundations. CfDB provides economic development and support programmes for democratic business in the UK.
The Democratic Business Summit 2025 is run in partnership with Stir to Action, Scotmid Co-operative, Glasgow City Council and Ethex, with support from Democratic Finance Scotland, Co-operate Scotland, and Greencity Wholefoods.
See you there
Tickets are £75+VAT. Find out more and book here.
Co-operate Scotland is offering bursaries to support ticket and travel costs for attendees based in Scotland. To enquire about eligibility, please contact: hello@co-operate.scot
How you can help
Help us spread the word about this year’s Summit. If you have people in your networks that might benefit from attending, please share the following messages in your relevant channels. Sample newsletter/blog copy and social posts are below to make this easy for you.
For more information about the event and how to become a sponsor, please contact jonny@democraticbusiness.org.
The CfDB is a project of Stir to Action Ltd, a worker co-operative registered in England as a Company Limited by Guarantee. Company number 07951013
Our team is based in Dorset, London, and Manchester
Designed and built by Guillermo Ortego
You can subscribe to our newsletter here
The CfDB is a project of Stir to Action Ltd, a worker co-operative registered in England as a Company Limited by Guarantee. Company number 07951013
Our team is based in Dorset, London, and Manchester
Designed and built by Guillermo Ortego
You can subscribe to our newsletter here
The CfDB is a project of Stir to Action Ltd, a worker co-operative registered in England as a Company Limited by Guarantee. Company number 07951013
Our team is based in Dorset, London, and Manchester
Designed and built by Guillermo Ortego