Tambunan school receives cooperative van

KOTA BELUD: SMK Tambulion received a cooperative van worth RM140,000 from the Malaysia Cooperatives Commission (SKM) on Monday.

Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick who handed over the van on Monday, hoped that it will be able to improve the school cooperative’s services and create new income.

Ewon said that in 2023, SKM had approved RM270,000 business development assistance to three cooperatives in the Kadamaian constituency.

“Today, we witness the handing over of a van to the SMK Tambulion cooperative through the PROSPEK assistance worth RM140,000 to allow the cooperative to carry out logistic activities,” he said.

He also announced an allocation of RM50,000 from the special minister funding to upgrade the school’s hall facility, including electricity wiring, mobile air conditioner acquisition and other facilities.

Ewon said that his ministry, through SKM, has implemented various programmes last year.

“Through these programmes, the community now realise the importance of cooperatives and have used the cooperatives platform not just for business and expansion of knowledge but also for networking and economic growth of the community,” he said.

He said that presently, there are 1,707 registered cooperatives in Sabah with members totaling 350,368.

Meanwhile the accumulated shares and fees are RM232 million, accumulated assets worth RM915.25 million and achieving a total revenue of RM569.71 million,” he said.

Of the total cooperatives, about 230 are school cooperatives that are active contributing a total turnover of RM20.15 million.

“I hope school cooperatives will continue to contribute towards the nation’s economic income,” he said.