897 Miren Oca: The Power of Employee Ownership

Building Community Wealth for Social and Environmental Impact

What does it take to build a Triple Bottom Line Business, that is, a business that is good for people, the planet, and profits? It turns out doing well for your employees and the environment helps accelerate the growth and value of your business.

When you think of a swimming lesson business, the idea of game changing innovation might not spring to mind.

That’s why Ocaquatics CEO and founder Miren Oca will inspire you to think differently about employee ownership and creating a social impact mission.

Miren is a pioneering innovator in social and environmental sustainability and employee ownership, uniquely building her swimming school business over the past 30 years to be a force for good for team members, customers, the environment and her own bottom line.

Miren has found a way to recruit and retain top talent though an Employee Ownership Trust, an EOT – and because her employees own 100% of her business, she’s creating community wealth as she inspires her team to innovate to grow the value of her business. We get into all the details of what an EOT can do for your business, how she set it up and what it means for her own personal wealth. She also talks about how she’s empowered her team members with same day pay, mental health services, and generous paid time off.

Miren also shares how becoming B Corp certified also boosted her financial results as her business evolved – think pool covers, UV sanitation, and LED lighting – to boost its social and environmental impact scores.

More about Miren Oca at www.ocaquatics.com

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More about Miren at Ocaquatics

Miren Oca is the founder and CEO of the Ocaquatics Swim School. Thirty years ago, Miren started teaching swimming lessons in backyard pools as a way to provide for her small but growing family. Over the last three decades she’s grown her business to five state-of-the-art environmentally sustainable locations, delivering 6,500 lessons a week, with 3 million children taught to swim by Miren and her team so far. Miren is also a pioneer in innovating employee ownership, with an Employee Ownership Trust that builds wealth for her community as the business grows.

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