The steps to iteratec nurdemteam eG
The preparations for the foundation of iteratec nurdemteam eG were characterised by a high degree of integration of all interested parties. Thus, by June 2018, a group of about 30 people had been found who were interested in participating in the statutes of the cooperative. At each site, a staff member helped to ensure communication and to inform all staff at the site about the progress of the foundation. It never mattered whether the employee had been with iteratec for years or had just joined. Everyone was allowed to get involved at any time.
In addition to the Articles of Association, the election of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board is an essential step in establishing the eG. In order to find suitable candidates, each employee could be nominated as a member of the Executive Board or Supervisory Board by a colleague. According to the statutes, the Executive Board consists of two members in addition to Klaus Eberhardt and Mark Goerke, the Supervisory Board must consist of one employee from each of the five largest locations, one employee as a representative for the smallest locations and one employee from the Service Team (employees from the billing, accounting, HR, marketing, etc. departments). This is to ensure that the interests of all locations and the service teams are equally represented.
Basics webinar presented by Nils Koerber
Company sale (M&A) without risk and loss of value
The foundation of iteratec nurdemteam eG
The founding finally took place through the founding meeting on 13 December 2018. With this day, 215 employees of iteratec GmbH decided right away to become members of the cooperative, to support the project, and to preserve iteratec and its culture in the future. At the founding meeting, the members were allowed to elect their representatives for the board of directors and the supervisory board. New colleagues were thus integrated into the founding of the cooperative from the very beginning. Since this founding meeting, a great deal of momentum has been created. First, the application to join the auditing association was made and with this application, a request was also made to prepare a foundation report. The foundation report was completed by the auditing association in March 2019. In addition, further organisational measures were initiated: The cooperative has become part of the start-up support, i.e. new employees of iteratec GmbH are introduced to the cooperative and also representatives (supervisory board member and, if applicable, board member) at the location.
Working groups have been formed to discuss cooperation in the cooperative and, for example, the values in the cooperative. The board has focused primarily on the purchase agreements, communication with members, the admission of new members and the provision of infrastructure. In addition, the board has travelled to each site to gather member and non-member expectations of the cooperative. In doing so, the design of the cooperative is the responsibility of the members, regardless of whether they have been working at iteratec GmbH for several years or have just started at iteratec.
In May 2019, iteratec nurdemteam eG was entered in the register of cooperatives. The purchase agreement was also signed as a result. As a result, iteratec nurdemteam eG already holds a 49% stake in iteratec GmbH. This means that the employees of iteratec GmbH who have decided to become members of the cooperative are co-owners of their company and thus secure their own future.
Making a virtue of necessity - The iteratec solution for virtual committee voting
General meetings, as face-to-face events, are always associated with a very high level of expense. As a result, general meetings are often reduced to the minimum required by law. However, in order to ensure a high level of member participation, it would be desirable to hold general meetings on a demand-oriented basis and thus more frequently. Since the beginning of iteratec nurdemteam eG, some of the members have therefore been considering how general meetings could be held virtually. Together with lawyers, the necessary changes to the articles of association were first worked out. Parallel to this, work began at iteratec GmbH on a software solution called DecentraVote to conduct votes virtually.
To participate in a virtual general assembly, members only need a web browser. They can use it to register to attend the meeting, view the planned resolutions, cast their votes and check that the votes have been counted. In addition, before the start of the general assembly, the board can create the planned resolutions, determine who is entitled to vote and record the proxies. With the help of the software, the chairman of the meeting opens and closes the voting and triggers the counting of votes.
Electronic decisions thanks to state-of-the-art technology
With DecentraVote, the ambitious team of developers wanted to prove iteratec’s expertise in the environment of decentralised systems and create software that protects the democratic principles of a cooperative with the help of state-of-the-art technologies. Neither functionaries nor external service providers of the cooperative must be able to compromise the system and influence the outcome of electronic decisions. After all, if there were any doubts about the legality of resolutions, members could take legal action against them. Thanks to blockchain technology, votes conducted with DecentraVote are transparent and the results verifiable. A particular challenge was to combine these features with the requirement of anonymous voting in secret ballots. The team solved the task using advanced techniques in cryptography. The solution was presented as a result of iteratec’s in-house research and development in several master’s theses by our working students and at professional congresses.
While the use of the software was originally only planned after an adjustment of the articles of association of iteratec nurdemteam eG, the legislation of the federal government now enables the implementation of a virtual general assembly without changing the articles of association. For this reason, iteratec nurdemteam eG is already planning to conduct the next general assembly virtually with its own software solution DecentraVote. In the meantime, other cooperatives have also contacted iteratec and expressed interest in DecentraVote.
Conclusion
Many people interested in succession fail to obtain financing for their entrepreneurial dream with little equity capital. The eG offers interested employees the opportunity to become additional entrepreneurs. This makes it possible to Distributing responsibility in the company on many shoulders and ensuring succession. The sharing of responsibility and the fact that a company’s orientation is not solely economic are certainly in line with modern values, which the historically proven model of the registered cooperative takes into account and fits wonderfully into the spirit of the shared economy.
We would like to share this mindset with other entrepreneurs and those who want to become one. On 13 July 2020, you will learn more about the iteratec success story and the steps you can take to realise it in an online webinar.
Images: KERN - Company succession. Successful
Authors’ Community:
iteratec: Dr Michael Gebhart, Dr Zoltan Fazekas, Manuela Braitmaier
KERN: Roland Greppmair, Holger Habermann, Wolfgang Bürger
TIPS for further reading:
The cooperative model - When employees follow in the footsteps of the company founders
Conflicts during the generational change of family businesses
Company Succession in Times of the Corona Crisis
What are the most important questions in the succession process?
