Two co-operative projects in Preston have been recognised by the city for their efforts helping entrepreneurs.
The projects, which take the form of public courses, were celebrated at an event in the newly reopened Harris Museum. Participants in the courses (CoLab and Lady Boss 2.0) were handed their certificates by the mayor of Preston, Cllr Sue Whittam.
The two projects sit under the umbrella of the Preston Cooperative Development Network (PCDN), which aims to develop local co-ops and community wealth initiatives in the city of Preston. This year, the PCDN received funding from the Preston City Council UKSPF 2025/26 programme to develop these projects.
The first project, CoLab: Creative Enterprise for Artists, is run by local artist Jonny Cosmo. It is a course designed to help creatives make their projects more sustainable by forming artist co-operatives, access funding, and make a viable living.
“The results of artist co-operatives speak for themselves,” said Cosmo. “In the UK, in larger cities, artist co-operatives are integral to the cultural offering and the creative scenes; putting on community gatherings, innovative events and activities, and demonstrating that the arts are a viable career path.”
Launched earlier this year, Lady Boss 2.0 aims to help unregistered home-based female cooks acquire food safety qualifications and other certifications necessary to turn their cooking into a business. Initially, the multilingual co-op worked with 10 cooks from minority communities, before expanding to a second cohort including 18 women – 70% of whom were born outside the UK.
Organisers said they focused on introducing the UK’s catering, legal and business landscape to attendees as well as providing sessions on social media marketing, pricing, invoicing, bookkeeping and more. With most delegates having now completed their Level 2 Food Safety training, participants have been invited to join Lady Boss Catering with an eye to forming a catering co-op in the next few months.
Aysha Patel, who runs the programme, said: “Many women are highly talented and experienced and often express a desire to work for themselves and bring their skills to a wider market,” said programme organiser Aysha Patel. “What they sometimes need help with is finance, business advice and building resilience. The Lady Boss programme seeks to empower women to start, grow and scale their business supporting each other in the process.
“Lady Boss Catering is a women-owned business that emerged directly from the first Lady Boss programme in February 2025. The business continues going from strength to strength, and the ladies have been catering for many events around Preston, including this project recognition event at The Harris.”
