MEDC to open new SKM branch office in Semporna: Ewon

4 March 2024

By Wartawan Nabalu News

SEMPORNA: Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Datuk Ewon Benedick said that a new office of the Malaysian Cooperative Commission (SKM) branch in Semporna will be opened this year.

He stated that the opening of the new office will facilitate the local community in this 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 the engagement session today," he said.

He said this during an engagement session with the cooperators of Semporna district in conjunction with the Cooperative Visit at Kurnia Berhad Cooperative, here, today.

Also present were the Deputy Chief Secretary of Entrepreneur Development of KUSKOP, Datuk Zamri Salleh, Chief Executive Officer of SKM Rusli Jaafar, and Director of SKM Sabah Matias Kundapin.

Earlier, while speaking at the event, Ewon said that KUSKOP is committed and always striving to provide a conducive ecosystem for the cooperative movement to continue to grow and significantly contribute to improving the economy of the community.

"With the strong cooperation between MEDC, SKM, the Malaysian Cooperative Institute (IKMa), and ANGKASA, we can see that the national cooperative movement has developed rapidly and successfully achieved various successes over a period of more than 100 years."

The number of cooperatives in our country has surged to 15,556 cooperatives with a total 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 earnings reaching RM40 billion," he said.

He mentioned that 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.

"MEDC, through SKM and IKMa, will continue efforts to provide financial assistance and training to the cooperatives," he said.

Therefore, he suggested that all cooperatives around Semporna seize every opportunity and space to obtain assistance information from SKM and IKMa in their efforts to further empower their cooperative activities.

"I also suggest cooperatives to learn the ins and outs of using digital platforms to expand their business scope so that their products are more widely recognised and able to penetrate broader markets, not just focusing on local areas," he said.