Co-Founder, Fairbnb.coop

Damiano Avellino is the co-founder of Fairbnb.coop, an ethical travel platform cooperative designed to make tourism more sustainable and community-centered. Fairbnb.coop offers an alternative to extractive platform models by connecting travel activity with local benefit, supporting communities in the destinations where visitors stay.

Damiano’s work focuses on platform cooperativism, democratic ownership, and the design of digital platforms that create value for communities rather than extracting value from them. He has worked across NGOs, cooperatives, social enterprises, and ecosystem-building initiatives, bringing a practical perspective on why many “good ideas” struggle to scale and what kinds of governance, capital, and local trust are needed for cooperative platforms to become viable alternatives.