Cuba lives substantial changes that promise good returns for the sustainability and efficiency of its economy. The update of its economic model has caused a reverberation of initiatives by developing various forms. Among them stand out with particular force the non-agricultural cooperatives.
Recently in the province of Matanzas six were approved as part of the first 124 to have come into operation throughout the island. Of those, one is engaged in domestic and international commercialization of birds, other to the rental of scaffolding and pans for construction, and a third of construction, specializing in veneers and flooring.
They are named Carpintex, Sagebien and one of printing and graphic, and interior decoration, the municipality of Cardenas, that does not have a name that identifies it. It was established in the Convention Center Plaza America in Varadero, from Decree Law 305 of non-agricultural cooperatives, dated November 5, 2012 and Article 18 of Decree 309 on the regulation of first degree non-agricultural cooperatives, of November 28, 2012, with which will take into account the additional provisions, the statutes and the laws that are applicable to them.
This was the second to be established in the province of Matanzas, after the act of a public deed, which was legally formalized.
The management body of the cooperative is made up of five partners: Ariel Osvaldo Balmaseda, president, Isabel Pupo, vice president; Ilaisa Otero, Secretary General of the Assembly of the cooperative; Luis Gustavo Fernandez, administrator, and Iris Ana Ferraz, economical for control and control.
Its purpose is wide, covering the design, production and reproduction and marketing of graphic prints for various uses, made on any material (wood, metal, acrylic, glass, stone, fabric). They also use any existing technique, including supply parts and components to design, produce, reproduce and sell objects, works of art, personalized items, decorative and practical items and apparel products.
It also aims at running graphic design projects, industrial, urban, comprehensive decorating, landscaping, and architectural, restoration and interior design in all its forms, with parts supply, and construction and installation if necessary.
Economic unit
Ariel Osvaldo Balmaseda, photographer and freelance visual artist, had always dreamed of having a business with which he could make a proposal makeover to the tourist resort of Varadero, combining elements of graphic and art….
“We intend to be the group of image to Varadero. In principle, our cooperative is created to promote the concept of good image, especially in Varadero, and the Matanzas-Varadero-Cardenas tourist triangle ” Balmaseda explains.
The president of the cooperative said that the aim is to promote graphic prints, class decorations, personalized items, a whole range of products today do not exist or are not stably offered. For this reason they have done a market study which enables them to enter it, have financial viability and social impact.
“We prepared as artistic creation workshop quite some time, and we realized that it opens a wide field, with a future, because in our country there is a great need in the market-both state and private to customize items, whether clothes or utensils, ” Balmaseda says.
The architect Isabel Perez, second in the cooperative, states that are very interested in graphics and customization, so necessary in the resort, which is a little down in the market. She exemplified packaging labels, which are very important. “We want to support the environment in Varadero, projecting on how to preserve the beach, as well as benefit parentless children, among other social projects”.
For her, a cooperative is “the joint effort of a group of people with a single purpose, that is fair, everyone has the same level of commitment, that everyone has the same vision and functions used in each which would correspond. “
“We promote the good taste from the visual arts. For individuals, we propose a high-level exclusive offer for people who want to decorate their homes with artistic works that convey cultural values ”, Balmaseda says.
The Engineer in Geophysics Luis Gustavo Fernandez, who serves as administrator and will be conducting civil executions, on a personal level feels fulfilled: “I am a professional with certain expectations that in the cooperative can be achieved”.
He also comments that “this (his offer as a cooperative) complement existing services in the state sector. We would be reinforcement to these companies in this new economic and management mode. We provide a new service to the people and try to make it affordable to acquire. “
Ilaisa Otero, graduated as Trade Technician, Secretary General of the Assembly of the cooperative and primarily responsible for the printing and graphic workshop, says she never was afraid to leave her work for the state and “venture” in this cooperative. “The most important thing is that we are united and we are like family, so I have confidence in the future of the cooperative,” she notes.
Iris Ana Ferraz, in charge of monitoring and control, was the last to join the team. She always served in state jobs and gained great experience in her 19 years of banking work.
“In the cooperative they needed an accountant and I decided to join. At the corporate level the accountant and the director must be united. The economy is a key entity in any organization, “she says.
Ana Iris, BA in Accounting and Finance and is responsible for all to be legal and accounted for, plans to establish the Versat system. “The bank is a methodological body, there are works based on manuals, procedures, no one can get out of it and I have a discipline in that regard, every time I am going to do something I read well and confirm the procedure laid down in official documents “she says.
The payment to members whose numbers will increase-is made after the annual review and, depending on the utilities that the cooperative has, they will be distributed according to the percent contribution that each partner has made where, of course, the largest contributor has a higher percent.
“Every month we distribute an advance between partners because we cannot wait for year-end profits. Always the monthly payment would be based on what we have contracts for, “Iris says.
This cooperative, aiming not only to companies but the entire country’s economic environment, will operate in local currency and in freely convertible currency. Even they will be open to the possibility, through established mechanisms to export their products to the international market and import substitution with products originating from Cuba.
However, the whole process has not been easy. Isabel Pupo said that the process of assimilation of the new is quite slow and banks are not prepared for the required transactions. Although no information content is offered by the media, will be a long road and you have to open many doors in order to understand that a cooperative is not agricultural.
“We have had many obstacles, especially the misunderstanding to changes in the country today. There is a lot of fear because until now the concept of cooperative had been handled only in the agricultural sector and we usually relate to this or self-employed. I think there should be more information on the legal protection with the new cooperatives, ” its vice-president says.
The future waits
During the next 60 days the partners must create accounts, register the legal deed at the Territorial Commercial Office within 30 days counting from the date of this grant, registration by the cooperative which will reach its legal personality and will commenced its operations.
In addition, partners are required to register with the Office of Tax Administration and records of the taxpayer and the relevant subsidiary Central Commercial Registry of the Ministry of Internal Trade to exercise trade activities under its corporate purpose and, finally, register the cooperative in the National Statistics Authority.
“The cooperative, widely spread throughout the world, in Cuba is a project that has so far been guided by good sense and vision,” Ariel Balmaseda says. The Cuban economy begins to operate in the use of professional and creative talent, the capital whose not exploitation would be fatal.
This cooperative has just begun. A long way is ahead to explode plans linking the art to technology. Still pending there are some inviolable steps to reach their identity and legal personality, essential aspects in the complex process of their formation, but they are headed there, it only remains greater willingness to bring into effect its objectives.
For: Lis García Arango
Author
Redacción OnCuba
