Digital cooperatives can address the inequality in wealth distribution and financial access by allowing the interoperability of cooperative platforms among members, Ann Cuisia, Digital Technology Service Cooperative, said in an interview with Daily Tribune's morning show Gising Na!
Cuisia said digiCOOP aims to provide financial freedom to every Filipino, with its platform empowering both the cooperative and its cooperators so that "no cooperative is left behind in the nation's digitization boom."
"We aim to provide convergence of digital platforms and make it more seamless to usher in promoting Ease of Doing Business. We also aid in managing cooperatives' operations, especially for their members. We want their operation to be more systematic or automated," Cusia said.
"We saw that cooperatives are somehow left behind when it comes to digital transformation, so we decided to establish a technology service, a special secondary cooperative that will incorporate services and transactions of member cooperatives under one network. Even if you are in the regions, you can transact everywhere, anytime using our technology," she added.
The DigiCOOP technology caters to all cooperative types, whether electric or transport cooperatives.
Soon, Cuisia said they would reach out to agricultural cooperatives in the rural areas and tap them to take advantage of their innovation to revitalize their operations.
"We are also trying to seek and reach out to agri-coops because we have an agriculture management system they can use. These are the next phases in our digitization efforts, to involve all sectors, especially their operations. Because we believe in inclusivity, and all are fair and square when it comes to technology. We want to uplift every cooperative's technological capability," she explained.
In the coming months, she said DigiCOOP would unveil its advanced technologies that they can integrate into the DigiCOOP application.
DigiCOOP's mission is to unite and serve member cooperatives using technology by enabling individual members to build their wealth, participate in a lively ecosystem and pass on the cooperative legacy to the next tech-adept generation.
DigiCOOP recently secured its special cooperative license from the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) as it aims to accelerate tech transformation and provide web and mobile banking capability to its members.
CDA issued Memorandum 2021-14 in November 2021, which includes guidelines for registering a Technology Service Cooperative (TSC), a particular type of cooperative organized among registered cooperatives of all types and categories.
Under CDA's TSC memorandum, DTSC is expected to pool its resources to introduce technological innovations, particularly in supporting members of its cooperative through e-commerce, portals, and innovative ways of bridging the gap in market access. This step responds to the changing needs of the cooperatives sector and community.