SMart – Société Mutuelle pour artistes - was originally founded in Belgium in 1998 and is a international network of cooperatives whose mission is to improve the working conditions of self-employed taking the hassle out of freelancing. Cooperatives members benefit not only from access to affordable health and social insurance (such as retirement contributions), but also from on-time payment guarantees. The German cooperative, SMartDe eG, the youngest player in the group, provides also information for newcomers to Germany. Overall, SMart now has over 90.000 members in nine European countries.