Kota Kinabalu: The cooperative movement has great potential in eradicating poverty in line with the Sabah Maju Jaya initiative by 2025, says Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Datuk Ewon Benedick.
“There are 1,707 registered cooperatives in Sabah. This makes Sabah the second highest state in the number of cooperatives after Selangor.
With a membership of around 350,000 people, seven cooperative movements in Sabah managed to record an income of approximately RM570 million,” he said, at the National Cooperative Month Appreciation Ceremony, Thursday night (pic).
He said cooperatives were established in Malaysia in 1922 where only 11 cooperatives were registered at that time with a membership of only 825 people.
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“The contribution of the cooperative movement through the collection of share capital and fees was as much as RM17 billion and the generation of assets amounted to RM160 billion.
“Meanwhile, the cooperative’s revenue contribution reached RM45.5 billion, making it the third largest contributor to the national economy after the government and private sectors,” he said.
Ewon said the original goal of establishing cooperatives was to help rural residents deal with debt. It has ventured into the six major economic sectors such as financial services, wholesale and retail, plantations, tourism, real estate development, construction and health and personal care.
Ewon lauded Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad (Bank Rakyat) which is listed in the top 300 cooperatives in the world with a ranking of 6,244.
“This is one of the best achievements achieved by one of the cooperatives in our country besides the Malaysian Cooperative Entrepreneurship University (UKKM).
“UKKM is the first cooperative university that will lead the country in producing professional layers of cooperative human capital.
“This is to ensure that the cooperative sector continues to be competitive, led and composed by those who are competent, dynamic and progressive.
“UKKM offers programmes from diploma to a master’s degree in administration and entrepreneurship. I presented the offer to 20 students of the first series of MBA in Cooperative Management in May 2023,” he said.
The appreciation ceremony is followed by the highlight event which is the National Cooperative Day Celebration held every Saturday in the third week of July.
The opening ceremony of the National Cooperative Day would be held for the first time in Kota Kinabalu on Saturday.
It would be officiated by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor and closed on July 30 by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also Minister of Rural and Regional Development.
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