Namasté Solar – Energy Cooperative with a new twist
Operating in Colorado, Namasté Solar is an employee-owned cooperative that plans, constructs and maintains solar PV installations for private and business clients. The company has had an impressive growth rate – 2000 % in three years, according to an article in renewableenergyworld.com
The company is controlled by the members of the cooperative, which are employees. Operative decisions are made in a democratic fashion, often the power to decide is delegated to specific committees. The website is www.namastesolar.com/
Blake Jones, one of the founders of Namasté Solar was interviewed by Alex Bogusky. He explains what it means to run a democratic company And why a founder like Blake shares all the decision making at Namasté. Every employee is a stockholder and every stockholder gets a vote. One vote. From Blake to the the installers, nobody gets more than a single vote. Blake says it works better than the corporate structures most of us are used to and the incredible growth of the company might be proof. See the interview here:
Namasté Solar: The Most Democratic Company on Earth?
The company, says Jones, did not start out as a traditional business and then transform. The participatory management style was adopted right from the beginning, in 2005, when the company was founded.
Our story began in the summer of 2004…
…as Blake Jones returned home after working in solar for three years in Nepal, planning to start his own solar company. Seeking partners in this venture, Blake met with Wes Kennedy and Ray Tuomey and found they shared a common vision for an innovative business model. After many deep discussions – toward the end of 2004, as Colorado’s historic Amendment 37 passed – Blake, Ray, and Wes finalized their vision for company ownership structure, governance, growth objectives, and core values. After choosing a company name that was meaningful to them, Namasté Solar was officially incorporated on February 2, 2005.
The Namasté Solar Team, Spring 2006
