At the beginning of September 2014, the Raben Group began cooperation with the KOSS Social Cooperative from Kościan. This is yet another social enterprise that is successfully working with this logistics company.
Employees of the KOSS social cooperative are responsible for, among other things, labeling products as well as their repacking and packaging. The people employed in the cooperative have intellectual disabilities. On the open labor market, they would have little chance of employment.
– The Raben Group’s corporate social responsibility influences its innovation. We are constantly looking for new areas of activity that will help us realize our CSR vision, according to which we strive to set sustainable trends in the industry. Through cooperation with the KOSS cooperative, we are creating new solutions not only in the TSL sector but also among companies from other industries, showing that cooperation with social economy entities brings tangible benefits – comments Marta Szymborska, CSR Leader of the Raben Group.
Legal entities operating in the field of social economy in Poland include foundations, associations, cooperatives, and occupational therapy workshops. However, not all such organizations are automatically qualified as social economy entities. This depends primarily on their profile of activity and other characteristics, such as whether the employees or clients of such organizations include people from groups at risk of social exclusion, e.g., the long-term unemployed or the disabled.
The Raben Group began cooperation with social enterprises back in 2012 with an agreement with the Otwarci Social Cooperative from Konin. The cooperative carries out orders for the aforementioned company for sewing workwear elements for drivers and administrative staff. This type of cooperation is an example of an inclusive business model, which consists of involving groups excluded from the open labor market in social and professional life. Closer cooperation between business and the social economy is intensively promoted by the Association for Social Cooperatives from Poznań, which strongly supported the agreement between the cooperative and the Raben Group.
– We are pleased that the social cooperatives we support are becoming part of the chain of tasks and values of such a large enterprise. Yesterday sewing clothes, today co-packing, and in the future – I hope – further areas of cooperation – says Przemysław Piechocki, President of the Association for Social Cooperatives.