THE Entrepreneur Development Ministry will table a proposal to rebrand itself by inserting the word “cooperatives” in its name at a cabinet meeting tomorrow.

Its minister, Mohd Redzuan Yusof, said this was deemed important after receiving feedback from cooperative movements, as they also played an important role in the country’s economy.

“If agreed, (the ministry’s name) will be amended, InsyaAllah, by this month.

“After this, it will be known as the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry,” he said after launching the Towards Shared Prosperity and Five Strategic Thrusts of Cooperative Institute of Malaysia (IKM) programme in Petaling Jaya today.

Redzuan said it was time for the rebranding as there were requests from some of the 6.1 million cooperatives members under 14,237 cooperatives across the country.

“The rebranding exercise was felt necessary as many were unclear on the ministry in charge of cooperatives, and they feel it (rebranding) is very effective for them (members and cooperatives) and I agree.

“This will also give them visibility and stimulation to be more relevant contributors in the small and medium enterprises (SME) segment,” he said.

Meanwhile, IKM director-general Ariffin Mamat said today’s programme was a new initiative to relay government policies on cooperatives as well as to offer training to cooperatives, and it is targeting 20 locations across the country to implement the programme.

“Beginning this year, the training programme at IKM will be more targeted and focused by identifying the expected outcomes of each planned training session.

“This includes working with Bank Rakyat to raise RM100 million for this purpose under the Million Ringgit Co-op League (MiRiCLe) programme,” he said.

He said to ensure that the programme runs smoothly, IKM has developed five strategic thrusts, namely, increase in cooperatives’ income through targeted training and guidance under the MiRiCLe programme; a Cooperative Entrepreneurship, Cooperative Movement Human Capital Development through Industrial Revolution 4.0; emphasis on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Social Entrepreneurship; and, addressing issues surrounding dormant or inactive cooperatives. – Bernama, January 21, 2020.