Interview with Richard Warner, Coordinator and CEO of Nundah Community Enterprises Cooperative in Australia

This is an interview published by the International Labour Organization as part of its "Spotlight Interviews with Co-operators" series. It features Richard Warner, Coordinator and CEO of Nundah Community Enterprises Cooperative (NCEC), a worker cooperative in Brisbane founded by people with intellectual disabilities who had experienced long-term unemployment.

The interview traces NCEC's story from its beginnings in the mid-1990s, when a small group began meeting informally before registering as a cooperative in 1998, through to its growth into parks maintenance, hospitality and other ventures. Warner explains how the cooperative designs inclusive workplaces that look ordinary from the outside but are intentionally adapted on the inside, balancing participation and productivity so that members with diverse abilities and working rhythms can contribute meaningfully. He also describes NCEC's blended funding model, which combines trading income, National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) contributions, occasional grants and creative use of community assets.

Warner reflects on the challenges of staying true to members' aspirations amid competing demands, and shares insights from a recent visit to social cooperatives in Italy, where legislation supports work integration social enterprises. Readers will gain a practical, first-hand account of how a long-running cooperative sustains inclusive employment, balances commercial viability with social purpose, and adapts its model over time.

This resource is relevant to cooperative practitioners, disability employment advocates, and social enterprise founders interested in inclusive and community-owned business models.