Tawau Malays Set Up Co-op For Betterment

Tawau, Malaysia - The Malay community here has set up a co-operative, Koperasi Berkat Niaga Tawau Berhad (Ko Berkat), to improve its living standards.

Its sponsoring committee chairman, Pondren Nawa, said the setting up of the co-operative was also in line with the government policy of encouraging the people to start businesses through co-operatives.

“We will register Ko Berkat as soon as matters regarding setting-up procedures of a co-operative are settled. We already have 110 registered members and are targetting 150 members by the year end,” he told Bernama after chairing the co-operatives first meeting to elect board members here Saturday.

He said the co-operative`s membership was open to all Malays in Tawau, adding that its business focus was on real estate and agriculture.

Pondren said, as a start, the co-operative would apply for a piece of land from the state government or buy it to be developed for agricultural use, specifically for the oil palm sector. “When we get the land, we will develop it. Therefore, besides the monetary returns, the project will also open up job opportunities for the members, their children and the Tawau people, in general,” he said.

There are currently 587 co-operatives in Sabah whose membership total 193,873 and involves RM21,707,122 in shares, and assets worth about RM266 million.

In Tawau, there are 31 co-operatives with 26,317 members holding shares worth RM1.4 million, and assets totalling RM13.7 million.

Source: http://www.bernama.com
Photo: http://rimmelds.blogspot.com

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