Namasté Solar was founded in 2005 to provide residential and commercial solar services. The company chose to restructure as a worker cooperative in 2011. Prior to the transition, the company operated on a one-person-one-vote basis for most operational decisions, but shareholder votes were made on a one-share-one-vote basis. The cooperative model more closely matched the democratic ideals and also enabled the company to accept external investors without sacrificing internal control.
Location: Boulder, Colorado
Industry: Solar
Number of employees: 200
Became employee owned: 2011
From the company
Learn more
- Pew – Seeking a More Worker-Friendly Economy, Some States Push Employee Ownership (2020)
- Namaste Solar – How Being a Cooperative Helps our Business (video) (2016)
- Entrepreneur – This Company Asked Its Employees for Cash and Everybody Won (2016)
- Center for Social Inclusion – Namasté Solar: A Profile In Cooperative Ownership (2015)
- Democracy Collaborative – Converting businesses to worker cooperatives: real world lessons learned (video)(2015)
- Project Equity – Namaste Solar (2014)
- Inc – Where the CEO Is Just Another Guy With a Vote (2011)
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