Alphonse Desjardins (co-operator)

Caisses populaires. Desjardins, a parliamentary reporter in Ottawa, was shocked by a debate on usurious loans and studied European credit co-operatives before opening the first caisse populaire in his home town of Lévis, Quebec, in 1900, run from his house with his wife Dorimène. The network became the Desjardins Group, one of North America's largest financial co-operatives, still owned by its members.