Cooperative Commission to open branch in Semporna
KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia Cooperative Societies Commission (SKM) will be opening a branch in Semporna this year, said Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick.
He said the opening of the new office would facilitate the local community in the area to conduct transactions and obtain information about cooperatives or establish cooperatives.
“Our decision to open the new SKM branch office in Semporna is also our response to the requests of the cooperators in Semporna during today’s engagement session,” he said during an engagement session with cooperators from the Semporna district in conjunction with the ‘Lawatan Jejak Koperasi di Koperasi Kurnia Berhad, on Monday.
Also present were the ministry’s Deputy Chief Secretary of Entrepreneurial Development, Datuk Zamri Salleh, SKM Chief Executive Officer Rusli Jaafar, and SKM Sabah Director Matias Kundapin.
Earlier in his speech at the event, Ewon said that the ministry is committed and continuously strives to provide a conducive ecosystem for the cooperative movement to continue growing and contribute significantly to improving the community’s economy.
“With the strong collaboration between ministry, SKM, the Malaysian Cooperative Institute (IKMa), and ANGKASA, we can see that the national cooperative movement has grown rapidly and successfully achieved various successes in over 100 years.
“The number of cooperatives in our country now numbers at 15,556 with a membership of around 7.3 million as of June 30, 2023.
The success of the cooperative movement venturing into various economic sectors has successfully increased the collection of share capital and fees to RM17 billion, with total assets amounting to RM161 billion and revenue reaching RM40 billion,” he said.
According to Ewon, the success was also contributed by cooperatives in Sabah, which is the second-highest state in the statistics of the number of cooperatives in Malaysia, with a total of 1,765 cooperatives.
“In Semporna alone, there are 72 cooperatives with a membership of 16,379 people.
KUSKOP, through SKM and IKMa, will continue efforts to provide financial assistance and training to cooperatives,” he said.
Therefore, he suggested that all cooperatives around Semporna take advantage of every opportunity and space to obtain assistance information from SKM and IKMa to strengthen their respective cooperative activities.
“I also recommend cooperatives to learn the ins and outs of using digital platforms to expand their business scope so that their products are better known to the public and can penetrate a wider market, not just focusing on the local area,” he said.