The new general director of Konfekoop, Mikel Larrea, has announced that the Basque cooperative sector exceeds 1,400 companies and plans to create between 120 and 140 new ones each year, driven by values that connect with young people.
The Basque cooperative movement is experiencing a sweet moment. With more than 1,400 registered cooperatives by the end of 2025, the confederation Konfekoop expects to continue adding around a hundred new companies each year, as announced by its new general director, Mikel Larrea, during a meeting organised on the occasion of International Cooperatives Day.
A model that attracts entrepreneurs
Larrea, who took office in January 2025, has argued that "cooperatives remain a very attractive model for entrepreneurs." In his speech, he highlighted that the secret to sustained growth lies in "demonstrating all its appeal to society."
"It is a very committed model that allows for the development of many values, both for youth and for other sectors," he explained. According to his forecasts, "every year we will definitely continue to create, we hope, 120-140 cooperatives."
To facilitate this growth, the confederation has tools like Hazikoop, a society dedicated to promoting cooperatives that offers advice and fosters cooperative development.
Strategic plan 2025-2028: influence and intercooperation
Larrea has detailed the main lines of the new strategic plan of Konfekoop for the period 2025-2028. Among the main axes are strengthening the institutional influence of the organisation, a goal that has already borne fruit with the presence in the Basque Industry Council, consolidated in December 2025.
Additionally, the plan promotes intercooperation, meaning that companies share capabilities with each other, and modernises the confederation itself to respond to the latest demands of the market and society.
"We need to get much closer to educational centres and communicate much more about who we are and what we are doing," Larrea emphasised, aware that cooperativism remains largely unknown to part of the population.
Generational change, the great challenge
One of the main future challenges for cooperatives, as well as for the rest of the business fabric, is generational change. However, Larrea pointed out that cooperative values "connect with the concerns of young people."
To ensure that this appeal translates into action, the confederation has launched Koopaketa, a pioneering project that seeks to listen to how new generations understand the world of work and adapt the cooperative model without renouncing its essence.
"Cooperativism offers great answers to many of the most pressing challenges of the present, such as geopolitical uncertainty or generational change," Larrea concluded.
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