KUCHING: The participation of more youths in co-operative societies will help strengthen the cooperative movement, said Malaysia Cooperative Societies Commission (SKM) executive chairman Datuk Nordin Salleh.
He added that the cooperative industry wanted to give special emphasis on youth because apart from the fact that they are going to be the future leaders, youth have the potential to adapt to changing environment.
“They have the potential in terms of volume, knowledge-wise and energy-wise especially in the development of technology, they are the ones more tech-savvy (than the elders).
“So we want to recognise and harness them as well as making them the asset of the nation’s development,” he said in a press conference after officiating at the closing ceremony of Global Youth Forum 2020 (GYF20) at Riverside Majestic hotel here on Thursday.
He noted that the cooperative movement is a strategy in line with the new entrepreneurship policy introduced by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to ensure that Malaysia will become an entrepreneurship country by 2030.
“Cooperative is the most suitable and natural platform and that is also why we started cultivating cooperatives among students in schools.
“We will continue the effort by extending cooperatives in campuses and even using alumni approach because we want to create continuation of cooperative ecosystem,” he said.
According to SKM as of June last year, there were approximately 14,417 cooperatives in the country with a membership of some 6.1 million.
The total share capital or membership fees stand at RM15.2 billion with total assets amounting to RM143.7 billion and a hefty turnover of RM40.3 billion last year.
