## Networking

[Local groups](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/lowimpact-topic/local-networking-groups/) can be formed to network small businesses, including co-ops and the self-employed, that can help to provide a ready market of like-minded people who would prefer to purchase from and trade with local, [small-scale](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/lowimpact-topic/small-is-beautiful-introduction/) businesses, for the reasons outlined above. Small businesses and the self-employed can commit to trading with each other locally – to be local consumers as well as producers, or ‘prosumers’, if you like. These kinds of groups could develop the basis of a different kind of economy, founded on sustainability and democracy, with [mutual credit](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/lowimpact-topic/collaborative-credit/) as the means of exchange.