BUKIT MERTAJAM: School cooperatives can serve as early “business schools”, giving students practical exposure to entrepreneurship and business management.
Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Steven Sim said cooperatives in schools and campuses could become platforms for students to learn how businesses operate.
“Through school and campus cooperatives, students can be exposed to business concepts from a young age, including how shares work, how annual general meetings are conducted and how to plan business strategies,” he said after launching a Shopee Self-Collection Point at Politeknik Seberang Perai (PSP) here yesterday.
To encourage participation, Sim said cooperatives could consider rewarding students with shares.
“Instead of rewarding students with trophies or medals, cooperatives may consider giving them shares as a way to encourage their involvement,” he said.
Sim added that the cooperative movement was guided by three key values: developing the people’s economy, safeguarding welfare and fostering unity among the rakyat.
He said collaborations between cooperatives and e-commerce platforms could create new income streams.
“On average, we estimate each location can earn about RM1,000 in additional monthly income, depending on the volume of parcels handled.
“The self-collection point at PSP will benefit more than 3,000 students, allowing them to collect items purchased online directly from the campus cooperative,” he said.
For each parcel received, the collection centre earns 30 sen, while increased foot traffic is expected to generate more business for cooperatives.
Sim said the initiative had begun at two locations in Penang — the PSP cooperative and Angkasa Mart in Tasek Gelugor.
“Nationwide, about 60 cooperatives already serve as Shopee self-collection points and we are targeting at least 100 to collaborate with Shopee soon.
He said 25 cooperative premises had partnered with Shopee so far, while 61 more were undergoing screening.
“In Penang, there are 819 cooperatives with 171,713 members and assets totalling RM1.29bil,” he added.
