capital and management of companies. After thirteen years of creative work in the assistance and training sectors, based more on action than on reflection, and nourished by the social doctrine of the Church, Arizmendiarrieta focused his dedication on the creation of social enterprises, which he called the "cooperative experience". Organizational model Arizmendiarrieta promoted an open organizational model without distinction of race, belief, social class or gender, which was both participatory and interdependent. And it had some common elements, but also others specific to each sector of activity. Among the common elements was the General Assembly of partners, where the democracy of one person/one vote prevailed, without assessing seniority or the capital owned by the partner. The Assembly elected the members of the Governing Council, equivalent to the Board of Administration, where any member could present their candidacy. The Governing Council elected the Managing Director, who in turn would elect his own management team. On the other hand, the workers elected the members of the Social Council, equivalent to the workers unions, in a proportion of one representative for every twenty members. Both the Governing Council and the Social Council internally elected their president. Depending on the sector, the composition of the partners changed. Thus, in industrial cooperatives only their workers were members. In credit and research cooperatives, workers and companies were partners. In the consumer cooperatives, the workers and the companies were partners, and the clients were user partners. And in the training cooperatives the workers, the companies, and the students were partners. All the cooperatives were private, self-managed and offering their services to the entire public market. On the other hand, both research and training cooperatives were non-profit. Consumer cooperatives In July 1955 the houses of the "Mondragon Home Association" had already been completed, and Arizmendiarrieta promoted the creation of the San José Consumer Cooperative among his neighbors in the assembly of partners. It was about creating a community alternative to the exclusive company stores, such as that of the Locksmith Union. He organized everything personally: he participated in the list of founding members, collected the necessary documentation to formalize the statutes, looked for theoretical references about cooperativism to familiarize the members with this business model, took care of the steps to acquire a local in the town that served as a store, and drafted the statutes of the company. They included him as a member of the Governing