JAKARTA - Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperatives (SesKemenkop) Ahmad Zabadi emphasized the importance of accelerating socialization related to the financing scheme to support the operation of the Red and White Village Cooperative (Kopdes/kel Merah Putih).
Zabadi explained that through a complete understanding related to the flow of the funding disbursement process from Himbara Bank, it was a critical point in an effort to support the operation of the Red and White Kopdeskel throughout Indonesia.
The Head of the Office and Task Force (Satgas) for the Acceleration of the Establishment of the Red and White Kopdeskel at the provincial/Regency/City level must be able to answer all the questions or problems faced by the managers/managers of the Red and White Kopdeskel in their area, especially related to financing. This is necessary so that the initial target of October 2025 for all Red and White Kopdeskel can start operating.
"This is important because we want to make sure that early October is running, there are no longer issues about understanding related to how the business model is, how it is related to financing and other problems," said Ahmad Zabadi, quoted on Saturday, September 20.
Zabadi said that in this operational phase, the Red and White Kopdes/kel were also focused on optimizing the use of digitalization technology through the system that had been prepared, namely Simkopdes. Then the Red and White Kopdes/kel are also encouraged to strengthen partnerships with strategic partners so that the operational process can run well and smoothly.
"We encourage all transactions to be made cashless. Members will get special cards to shop, so that there is no longer any doubt about the legal apparatus regarding fund management," said Zabadi.
Regarding financing for the Red and White Kopdes/Kel, President Prabowo specifically gave directions so that the support of Himbara Bank or LPDB would not only focus on fulfilling working capital. However, it is hoped that there will be investment financing support so that Cooperatives can have a higher capacity to compete.
Many of our village cooperatives do not have warehouses or outlets. Therefore, investment financing is very important so that cooperatives can carry out their functions properly," he explained.
Zabadi hopes that the financing distribution bank, Himbara, will also facilitate the flow of the disbursement process after receiving the business proposal file submitted by the Red and White Kopdes/kel.
In the disbursement process, the channeling bank will not disburse loan applications to the Red and White Kopdes/kel but directly to its business partners as commodity suppliers to be traded.
Zabadi appreciated the support from BRI, BNI, Mandiri, and BSI who had stated their commitment to facilitate the disbursement of loans to the Red and White Kopdes/Kel with the technical instructions that had been set.
"Therefore, this really needs acceleration acceleration because the President wants us to complete this operation until the end of the year. If the eggs have been broken, the next financing will be easier," he said.
Zabadi also highlighted that the management/manager of Kopdes/Lel Merah Putih also focused on efforts to optimize the involvement and active role of cooperative members.
This is very important because the operation of the Red and White Kopdeskel will not run optimally in the long term if the cooperative members are not empowered.
Submission of financing to banks is only one option to start operating cooperatives.
Another option that is no less important is to optimize the resources of members to be able to explore the potential for financing from mandatory contributions, voluntary contributions that can be collected every month. The more people become members of the cooperative, the greater the potential for internal sources of financing that can be explored.
"If 10,000 members deposit compulsory deposits of Rp. 25,000 per month, cooperatives can collect Rp. 250 million per month, or almost Rp. 1.5 billion a year," he explained.
Zabadi criticized the low number of members in several cooperatives.
For this reason, it is necessary to participate from local governments to the village/kelurahan level to jointly encourage the community to become members of the Red and White Kopdeskel. According to him, the most effective strategy to attract more cooperative members is to associate membership with access to subsidized goods.
"If non-members cannot shop, then they are automatically encouraged to become members. This is the cooperative marketing strategy," said Zabadi.
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