Anybody Can, No Free Ride...

Anybody can be the member of Koperasi Kinta Utama Perak Berhad, provided that they have an address in Kinta, at least for now before our operation area grows.

I really need the members now... I need at least 6,000 of you...

As I was having teh ais at the usual mamak shop, Kalpaka, at midnight, I met a new friend from USJ. He was talking about a new business that is going to boom soon. They will launch the product by April and they are going to be big. Not just Malaysia, they are going abroad. China is one of their destinations, the biggest ready market. I really like his idea, but all I have in my mind right now is the baby, Koperasi Kinta Utama Perak Berhad, how to make it moves and how make it big for all of us.

There is no free ride. As I prepared the paper to make this koperasi happened, everything had been considered. One of the vital part is nobody works for free. Today, even to pee in the public toilet we have to pay RM 0.30. So, for those who introduced a new member will get paid. RM 25.00 for each new member introduced. Not much, but enough I guess.

If only one introduce a new member, we will pay them RM 25.00. Not much but if one have 10 new members, he will get RM 250.00 and his membership fee and the minimum share will actually paid off with a profit of RM 50.00. Everyone wants a free membership, so now, I am giving them one, plus 25% profit!

That is how we are giving the free membership and minimum share. We need to earn it! No free Ride.

Never Ending Race...

"The Clock tick, the time never stops, never ending race, no winners but too many losers... "

Why koperasi? There are actually of lot of vehicles that we can choose from the list. Proprietorship, Partnership, Sdn Bhd and Bhd but we choose koperasi. Actually I have all the vehicles but the Bhd. Bhd means limited by share, in the case of Sdn Bhd means private limited; means for few only, so koperasi is actually for everybody, so we should be bigger, at least in number!

A cooperative (also co-operative; often referred to as a co-op or coop) is defined by the International Co-operative Alliance's Statement on the Co-operative Identity as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.[1] It is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit.[2] A cooperative may also be defined as a business owned and controlled equally by the people who use its services or who work at it.

“Koperasi adalah pertubuhan manusia yang berautonomi di mana anggotanya bersatu secara sukarela demi mencapai kepentingan bersama di bidang ekonomi, sosial dan budaya, melalui suatu badan yang dimiliki bersama dan yang terkawal secara demokrasi. “

Prinsip Koperasi

PRINSIP PERTAMA: Keanggotaan Sukarela dan Terbuka
Koperasi adalah organisasi sukarela yang terbuka kepada semua orang yang boleh mengguna perkhidmatannya dan yang sedia menerima tanggungjawab keanggotaan tanpa diskriminasi jantina, lapisan masyarakat, bangsa, politik mahupun agama.

PRINSIP KEDUA: Kawalan Demokrasi oleh Anggota
Koperasi organisasi demokratik yang dikawal oleh anggotanya mengambil bahagian secara aktif di dalam usaha menentukan dasar dan membuat keputusan. Lelaki dan wanita yang berkhidmat sebagai wakil yang dipilih bertanggungjawab kepada semua anggota. Di dalam Koperasi Asas, anggotanya mempunyai hak mengundi yang sama (iaitu satu ahli satu undi) dan koperasi-koperasi di tahap lain disusun secara demokrasi.

PRINSIP KETIGA: Penglibatan Ekonomi Oleh Anggota
Setiap anggota menyumbangkan modal secara saksama dan mengawal modal koperasi itu secara demokrasi. Sekurang-kurangnya sebahagian daripada modal itu menjadi harta bersama koperasi itu. Pada umumnya, anggota yang menyumbangkan modal sebagai syarat keanggotaan akan menerima pulangan terhad, jika ada. Anggota akan membahagikan lebihan atau keuntungan kepada tujuan berikut: memajukan koperasi mereka mungkin melalui rezab yang sebahagian daripadanya tidak boleh diagih-agihkan kepada anggota; memanfaatkan anggota mengikut nisbah urusniaga mereka dengan koperasi itu, dan membantu kegiatan lai yang dipersetujui oleh keanggotaan.

PRINSIP KEEMPAT: Autonomi dan Kebebasan
Koperasi adalah organisasi berautonomi dan berdikari yang dikawal oleh anggotanya. Jika koperasi itu membuat perjanjian dengan organisasi lain termasuk kerajaan, atau mendapat modal daripada sumber luar, maka ia harus memelihara prinsip kawalan demokrasi oleh keanggotaan sambil autonomi koperasi itu dikekalkan.

PRINSIP KELIMA: Pendidikan, Latihan dan Maklumat
Koperasi menyediakan pendidikan dan latihan untuk anggotanya, wakil yang dipilih, pengurus serta kakitangan supaya mereka boleh menyumbangkan tenaga secara berkesan kepada pembangunan koperasi mereka. Koperasi memberi maklumat kepada rakyat umum khususnya kepada remaja dan pemimpin masyarakat.

PRINSIP KEENAM: Bekerjasama di antara koperasi
Koperasi berkhidmat kepada anggotanya dengan cara yang paling berkesan dan ia memperkukuhkan Gerakan Koperasi jikalau ia bekerja bersama-sama dengan struktur koperasi lain, setempat, nasional, serantau dan antarabangsa.

PRINSIP KETUJUH: Berprihatin terhadap Masyarakat
Koperasi berusaha untuk mendapatkan pembangunan berkekalan bagi masyarakatnya memlalui dasar-dasar yang dipersetujui oleh anggotanya.

Strenght of koperasi is the member, the bigger the number, the stronger it become. When we first started, there were only 56 of us. If only each of us recruited 2 new members each month then, by now, there should be 172,032 of us and the fund that we should have is actually RM 35,544,600.00. So, what can we do with that amount? A lot of things!

Obviously, we are not even close to the target and not following the plan. Not meeting the right people or meeting the people not at the right time.

Both are true i guess. But to me, there is no right or wrong time. As a human, we will like to study, wait and see. If it is good and working for us, then only we will join, else we will look or wait for something better or juicy.

Take this from me. The Koperasi Kinta Utama Perak Berhad is moving. We move one step at a time, but still moving, and i need all the support that i can get to make it move faster!

The First Principal - Make the people understand, then if they understand and agreed, get as many members as possible. Always remember, the strength is the members.

Democratic Control by the Members - One member one vote, regardless the share owned. Everyone can speak as loud as the other. Each of us is important.

Members Contribution - At least the minimum share and membership fee, as in our case, minimum share is RM 100.00 only and RM 100.00 whole life fee. Other contribution can be in any form such as buying at our own hypermarket.

Autonomy and Freedom - Koperasi is actually controlled by it members.

Education, Training and Information - Educate the people, especially the members.

Work Together - Among members and other Koperasi, local, nationwide and internationally.

For the people - Always the people, concern and develop them. The journey continues... KO-KITA

What do we get...

To date, we already have 138 members. Compared to Tuesday, February 2, 2010, there were 135 of us. Not much different but its moving. As I wrote before, our goal is at least 10,000 members by June!

Why the membership grows very slow? I don’t really have the answer. I only have 103 days before June. We actually started in November 2008; I started the blog on Monday, January 11, 2010. Before the blog, There were 110 members, so after the blog, we had additional of 25 members.

On average, before the blog, we have 8.46 members per month, after the blog, 20.27 members per month. So if the trend continues, we will only have 181 members by end of May! That is far from 10,000 members that I need by June. Allah, please help me…

I need 10,000 members not to win an election. I need them so that we can start a hypermarket. I need them so that we can move faster. I need them so that we can start our journey for a better economy. I’m not doing this for myself. I’m doing this for us.

As I was surfing the net last night, I just found out that my Ansara alumni had also formed a koperasi, named KOPERASI ANAK SAINS MARA BERHAD (ASMARA).

ASMARA membership is open to the following:

Ex-students of MRSM
Teaching staff and Ex-teaching staff of MRSM
Staff and Ex-staff of MRSM
Family members of the above categories

Fees:

An initial minimum subscription of RM 1,000 will apply for all memberships. Additional subscription is allowed to a maximum of 20% of the total paid up subscription of the Koperasi. This will be a running total which keeps changing as members increase.

A monthly fee ('Yuran') of RM 50, paid quarterly in advance, which will be treated as additional shares and thus entitled to dividend.

A once off processing fee (‘Fi Masuk’) of RM 50 for every application approved.

The very first payment due on application for membership will be a minimum of RM 1,200.00.

Koperasi Kinta Utama Perak Berhad is actually open to everybody, but at the moment we will start everything in Kinta, a district in the State of Perak. And we start small.

I’m not going to promise a million ringgit return for the investment, and I don’t ask for much though, only RM 200.00, RM 100.00 for whole life membership (fi masuk), and another RM 100.00 for the minimum share. That’s all. No monthly maintenance, no monthly fees and no hidden cost!

May be, if only I asked for a minimum investment RM 10,000.00 and promised a monthly return of at least 10% a month, then people will be rushing to join Koperasi Kinta Utama Perak Berhad!

And again, read my lips, and mark my words, I can never promise things like that! We are not a quick rich scheme; we are far from a scam. We are a koperasi! And we have our own way of doing things.

Why hypermarket? As I wrote before, once, we went to the nearest shop, and then we went to the nearest mini market. In the mid 80’s, we started to go to the supermarket. In the new millennium, shopping at hypermarket becomes a phenomenon. People start to go to hypermarket as it is cheaper there most of the time. Even the groceries shop owners go to hypermarket. (http://ko-kita.blogspot.com/)

If we have 10 thousand members at any given place, say Kinta district in Perak and each member spend only RM 200.00 each month at our own hypermarket (KO-KITA Hypermarket), we already have RM 2 million sales a month. If the profit margin is 5% alone, we already have RM 100,000 profit a month. In a year, we already have RM 1.2 million in profit a year.
If the member have only RM 100.00 share each in the koperasi, 10,000 members will actually contribute RM 1 million in share for the business. Surprisingly, RM 1.2 million profits is actually a 120% return for the investment.

If only we have 10 branches in Perak, we would have profit of RM 12 million a year. And if we have 100 branches throughout Malaysia, the profit will be RM 120 million a year.

We need to start with a hypermarket. Then only we will have the members to support us. Then we will have the profit for members. Then we grow from there.

Some people ask me, what do we get if we join and introduce new members? My answer is actually simple and straight, you will get RM 25.00 as an introducer! Well, may be RM 25.00 is not much, but if you introduce 1,000 members, you will actually get RM 25,000.00! That is actually the least that we can give to members who actually help us to get to our goal, 10,000 members!

What if the hypermarket will take some time to take off? Yes, to get the members will actually take some time, and to get the license for hypermarket will take another. To build the building will also need some time and to run the hypermarket is actually another. But we just get the members first!

How much do we actually have if we really get the 10,000 members? We actually have RM 2,000,000.00 (two million). If RM 250,000.00 goes to members who introduce new members and another RM 250,000.00 spent on other expenses, we still have a fund of RM 1.5 million.

If we can have one of the parking lot for hospitals project, and we will actually get at least one, the cost is actually around RM 1 million only. It will be a multi-stories car park, 7 stories at least. Ground floor will be a 24 hours restaurant or a fast-food restaurant (a Mc Donald, may be), first floor will be offices or clinics. 2nd to 6th floor will be the parking, and the 7th floor will budget hotels - for the people.

If the question, how can we make it so cheap? (The building cost) We are actually our own building contractor!

If we don’t want to run our own restaurant, we can actually rent it out for at least RM 15,000.00 a month. The first floor rental will be at least RM 10,000.00 a month. The 5 floor parking lot, with a minimum charge per entry, may be RM 1.50, 70 lots per floor and with the assumption of 2 entries per lot per day will actually contribute an income of RM 1,050.00 each day, and that is RM 31,500.00 monthly of income. Well now, if you can see, we actually can have an income of RM 56,500.00 a month and in a year we will actually get RM 672,000.00.

If only we can distribute 30% as dividend the following year, the sum will be RM 201,600.00 and if divided to the 10,000 members equally, it is actually a 20.16% return of investment a year!

After 10 years, if only we keep 30% as saving a year (RM 201,600.00), we will actually have a capital of RM 2,016,000.00! Nobody lose and everybody happy! The journey continues…

If only...

We need 10,000 members...

If only we have half of it, it will be 5,000 of us!

If only 5,000 buying at our own hypermarket with the average spent RM 505.00 per month means we have RM 2,525,000.00 sales each month. If the profit margin is only 2%, we can actually make RM 50,500.00 a month. In a year we will make RM 606,000.00.

If only we can build and sell 500 houses a year, which is 10% of our member buying, with the profit of RM 60,000.00 per house sold, we are actually making RM 30,000,000.00!

If only we can sell 500 cars a year, which is again 10% of our member buying, with the profit of at least RM 5,000.00 per car sold, we are actually making RM 2,500,000.00 out of this business.

If only half of us have 2 children, that will be 5,000 children in our own day care centre. If the profit is RM 30.00 per head each month, then we have another RM 1,800,000.00 extra each year.

Not to mention other businesses that we can create, we actually already have at least RM 34,906,000.00 in profit a year. How much does this means to us? Everything!

If only we can distribute half of the profit to the koperasi members, how much actually each of us will get each year? RM 3,490.60!

And how much do we need from you to become a member? Only RM 200.00, RM 100.00 for membership and RM 100.00 for the minimum share!

"Those who charge usury are in the same position as those controlled by the devil's influence. This is because they claim that usury is the same as commerce. However, GOD permits commerce, and prohibits usury. Thus, whoever heeds this commandment from his Lord, and refrains from usury, he may keep his past earnings, and his judgment rests with GOD. As for those who persist in usury, they incur Hell, wherein they abide forever."

"Orang-orang yang memakan (mengambil) riba itu tidak dapat berdiri betul melainkan seperti berdirinya orang yang dirasuk Syaitan dengan terhuyung-hayang kerana sentuhan (Syaitan) itu. Yang demikian ialah disebabkan mereka mengatakan: "Bahawa sesungguhnya berniaga itu sama sahaja seperti riba". Padahal Allah telah menghalalkan berjual-beli (berniaga) dan mengharamkan riba. Oleh itu sesiapa yang telah sampai kepadanya peringatan (larangan) dari Tuhannya lalu ia berhenti (dari mengambil riba), maka apa yang telah diambilnya dahulu (sebelum pengharaman itu) adalah menjadi haknya, dan perkaranya terserahlah kepada Allah. Dan sesiapa yang mengulangi lagi (perbuatan mengambil riba itu) maka itulah ahli neraka, mereka kekal di dalamnya." (Surah Al- Baqarah, Ayat 275)

The journey continues…

Alhamdulillah, at last...

Alhamdulillah, at last, Majlis Agama Islam dan Adat Melayu Perak understood my idea. As I met Dato’ Sheikh at Dato’ Zamri’s house last Saturday night, he did mention to me that his people just understood my idea. So they will send at least 30 of their hemodialysis sponsored patient to us, to our hemodialysis centre. Formality will follow soon he said.

So, my baby, the Koperasi Kinta Utama Perak Berhad will have it first project running, the hemodialysis centre soon. Once the project running, there will be more hemodialysis patient will get a helping hand, especially those who have financial difficulty. There will be some profit but its more on charity.

As listed, we actually have a list of project to run.

1. Pusat hemodialysis kokita Batu Gajah
2. Library system sekolah-sekolah in Perak
3. Hotel kokita, Batu Gajah
4. Rest house kokita, Batu Gajah
5. kokita station (kokita hypermarket)
6. Fattening feeder cattle project for youth in Perak
7. Laman web sekolah-sekolah in Perak
8. 3 bangunan RT
9. Parking lot, hospitals
10. Mix development (housing etc.)

Out of the ten, only the number 5 needs at least 6,000 members. Else we still have 9 other project that will run without the 6,000 members. May be, after all the other 9 project running, then only I will get the 6,000 members. If that what it takes, so be it!

Alhamdulillah syukur, I get all the support that I need to make most of the project running except for number 5. All the other 9 are actually not involving many people. Most of it is actually direct negotiations. For the number 5, not many question asked but at the same time not many join. May be people like to wait and see. If only it’s moving, then only they join.

As I wrote before, koperasi strength is actually the number of its members. The bigger the number it has, the stronger it get. There are a lot of things that we can do if we have enough members. We can have our own way of financing, our own way of doing things and the best thing is, we can be more independent and self sustain.

The businesses that we will be in are, hypermarket - the daily basic needs, building and housing - a place to work and stay, car and motorcycle sales - the ride that we need, day care centre for children and the elder - a better place for our loved one and a place for a better investment. I need all the support that I can get to make our future better, and let us move together for the better! The journey continues…

Way of doing things...

Berlin wall fall, so did the New York World Trade Centre (WTC). We are actually very much in need of an alternative vehicle and way of doing things.

“On average, households living in urban areas spent 1.5 times more than households living in rural areas. Average consumer spending stands at RM 1,943.00 per month in the urban areas and RM 1,270.00 per month in the rural areas”. “Malaysians spend a high percentage of their household income on food, groceries and personal care items, ranking third out of the ten major economies in the Asia-Pacific region (excl. Japan). According to ACNielsen, Malaysians on average spent RM 505.00 per month on food and groceries, with just under half of that on fresh food like meat, fruits and vegetables”. (http://www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/retail-consumer/pdf/malaysia.pdf)

So, we should start here, food, groceries and personal care. Though there are actually other basic needs that are also important, we will look into it one by one later. Whenever we talk about food, groceries and personal care, we actually talk about hypermarket. Everything is actually there. So that is why we need to start one, everyone need it, the only question is how to start.

We need you to start; we need 10,000 of you to start. As I am writing this, there are already 135 of us. As I wrote before, we need 10,000 of us to make the hypermarket to come true. We are actually short of 9,865 in number. I need all the help that I can to make this happen. I’m not Tun Mahathir who has millions of followers or a singer who have many fans, but I need all the help that I can get to make this hypermarket to come true. It is not just for me, it is actually for all of us! http://ko-kita.blogspot.com/

As quoted, “Malaysians on average spent RM 505.00 per month on food and groceries”. It is not a mistake that I choose Kinta as the place for us to start. The population age 15 and above is actually around 770,000. We only need 10,000 members to start everything. Surprisingly, that is only 1.29 % of the population in Kinta. Let us work together to make this happen.

With RM 505 average spent per month on food and groceries, 10,000 members will actually contribute RM 5,050,000.00 sales for our hypermarket. If the profit margin is only 2%, we can actually make RM 101,000.00 a month. In a year we will make RM 1,212,000.00. How much each one of us will get at the end of the year? RM 121.20!

RM 121.20 is actually not much but the ratio to the investment of RM 100.00 as the basic share of each of us, that is actually 121.20% return of investment! http://ko-kita.blogspot.com/

As I was having tea earlier tonight with my friend Salleh, he told me that he doesn’t have enough money for his work. He told me that there is actually a lot of work waiting and he missed most of it, just because he doesn’t have the money. Salleh is actually a typical Malay aged 46 doing construction and building maintenance work. Bla, bla, bla…, he was complaining. I carefully listened to him and most of the time I was smiling.

Wonder and annoyed, Salleh asked me why I was smiling. I asked him if he knows why he misses most of the job and he again replied, “No money!” I told him that actually money is not a real problem. The real problem is actually he doesn’t have the CIDB or PKK license and, in most cases, all the companies that offer him the job actually ask him for the license. When he fails to come up with one, the companies give the job to someone else.

“We the koperasi actually have the CIDB license, why don’t you use our license? After all, you are one of the members” I added. “If you don’t have the money, the koperasi can finance you. And when the payment comes, it will go to the koperasi’s account. The koperasi will charge you 10% of the total amount and take back the advance given to you and you take the profit, end of story” I said. He nodded most of the time and promised to work with me the next time he gets a project. http://ko-kita.blogspot.com/

Everyone have their own dreams. Each one of us will try our best not to share the profits with anyone else. But the fact is, we are not alone in this world and most of the time, we need others to help us to reach our goal and I need you to help us by becoming the koperasi member to make the hypermarket comes true. The journey continues…