Venture into high-impact business, co-ops urged
Published on: Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Co-operatives are urged to venture into high-impact business to ensure growth and achieve the RM50 billion gross domestic product (GDP) contribution target by 2020.Deputy Chief Minister-cum-Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin said the current GDP contribution of co-operatives is RM39.64 billion, which means more needs to be done to achieve the target.He said to achieve the target co-operatives need to work together and be on the same page to guarantee the outcome.
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"Co-operation among co-operative board members is one of the keys to success. If they fail to co-operate among themselves, then it will not have a positive outcome, resulting in the co-operative becoming divided even if they have huge funds," he said.Yahya said this when closing the "Co-operative Human Capital Sustainable" programme, in conjunction with Maktab Koperasi Malaysia (MKM) promotion, at Tabung Haji Hotel, here, Monday.He urged co-operatives to take the initiative to make a comprehensive transformation before venturing into high-impact business to boost their income.
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"With the transformation, co-operatives will be more viable and able to contribute towards the socio-economic wellbeing of the community."Therefore, co-operatives must seize the opportunity to develop knowledgeable, creative and innovative human capital, and to cultivate entrepreneurship to ensure they are not left behind in this increasingly competitive and challenging business environment," he said.
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Yahya said the co-operatives in Sabah have shown encouraging growth which enhanced the people's confidence towards co-operative establishments.Based on the Malaysian Co-operative Commission statistics, there are currently 1,443 co-operatives with a total of 318,891 members in Sabah, as of Dec 29 last year, with the entire co-operative capital share in Sabah at RM56,356,359, fee modal of RM113,256,450 and asset ownership of RM774,487,897, he added.He assured that the State Government would remain resilient and provide the necessary support and opportunities to co-operatives and encourage people to venture into business.Meanwhile, MKM Board of Directors Chairman Datuk Mohd Yusof Kasim said the department would continue to carry out awareness and education programmes that can stimulate co-operative development in Malaysia.He said various courses had been conducted which covered a variety of aspects, including management, legislation, finance and information technology, as well as in-house training, to fulfil co-operative requests and requirements."As of 2017, MKM has successfully trained more than 40,000 members and carried out more than 900 programmes across the country.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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