The Cooperative Movement takes a new turn

World Cooperative Day was observed on 1st July 2017. In Mauritius, various activities have been organised to mark the event. There are around 1,143 cooperative societies in Mauritius and in Rodrigues engaged in as many as 40 projects generating a turnover of Rs 5.5 billion.

If in the past the main cooperative societies were involved in retail shops and in agriculture, today they do cover other productive sectors such as financial services, credit societies, distribution or even energy production.

According to official statistics, cooperative societies produce 65% of the total onion consumption, 45% of potatoes and 70% of vegetables. There are even bus operators grouped into cooperative societies. Mauritius has around 160 ‘Cooperative Credit Unions’ with a force of more than 75,000 members with a turnover of more than Rs 2 Billion. Added to that, it is worthy to note that as many as one hundred coop societies are managed by women folk.

However the absence of ‘strategic planning’ very often make of the societies stagnant, thus forcing them to depend on the authorities to survive. Many are heavily indebted and many are forced into receivership.

The Minister of Cooperatives, Sumil Bholah, at a press conference this week mentioned four schemes that his Ministry has set up to reorganise and revamp our Cooperative Society in order to bring a new confidence amongst cooperators but also to help the Mauritius Cooperative Movement, one of the oldest in the world, to start a new journey so as to better contribute to our economic growth.

Minister Bholah announced four schemes to achieve his goal at creating a new and more dynamic cooperative movement in Mauritius- Upgrading of Cooperative Societies, Acquisition of IT Facilities, Education of cooperative societies and a new scheme for Market Fairs.

Upgrading of Cooperative Societies Scheme

Government reckons the importance of the cooperative sector and is therefore encouraging the promotion and development of cooperative movement by providing the appropriate institutional, fiscal and policy support.  It has been noted that many cooperative societies face financial constraints to start or further expand their business activities. Moreover, young people do not wish to venture in cooperative business in view of the stringent modalities to access finance and other resources, amongst other things.  The Upgrading of Cooperative Societies Scheme aims at providing support to cooperatives and assists them in their empowerment and development. It also provides incentives to encourage start up cooperatives.

This will help to ‘Empower cooperatives to offer innovative, unique and quality products or services to their customers, make use of modernised equipment and create more visibility in the market, add value to business activities of cooperatives so as to ensure their competitiveness in the market and to obtain technical know-how from Experts and Consultants in specialised fields.’

Scheme for Market Fair for Cooperative Societies

Access to market remains a major challenge for cooperatives. In fact, in view of the size of many cooperative societies and their resource constraints, they are unable to have an appropriate venue, permanently or on a temporary basis, to sell their products. Over the years, the holding of market fairs for cooperatives has proved an efficient means for the societies to sell their products and also to make their goods and services known, following which they secure direct orders. However, the organisation of such fairs entails heavy financial implications and is currently difficult to be organised regularly.

The Scheme for Market Fair for Cooperative Societies aims at:

• Promoting locally manufactured goods and services.
• Showcasing the competencies of small scale cooperatives.
• Empowering and assisting cooperatives in marketing their products.
• Providing a platform for interactions for individual consumers as well as large scale buyers.
• Increasing competitiveness by supporting quality products from cooperatives.

Education Scheme for Cooperative Societies

The policy of the Cooperatives Division of the Ministry of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives is to encourage consolidation of existing cooperative societies as well as setting up of cooperatives in emerging and new sectors. In this respect, it is essential for capacity building of cooperators as well as potential would-be cooperators.

The National Cooperative College (previously National Institute for Cooperative Entrepreneurship), which is the training arm of the Ministry is offering training courses to cooperators as well as the community in general, on a needs basis. Moreover, there are other institutions which offer a range of specialized training courses relevant to cooperatives which are not dispensed by the National Cooperative College (NCC) in view of unavailability of appropriate expertise.

There are also well-established Cooperatives Training Institutions abroad which offer an array of training courses which would empower cooperatives to adopt new technologies in the production of their respective goods and services.

The Education Scheme for Cooperative Societies aims at:

• Ensuring a Building Capacity Programme for Cooperatives.
• Assisting cooperatives in their educational/training needs, locally and internationally.
• Promoting a continuous education programme for cooperatives, particularly in the use of new technologies.
• Keeping cooperatives abreast with developments in the cooperative sector.
• Promoting cooperatives in the community.

Acquisition of IT Facilities

Cooperative Societies are still keeping their records manually, using paper registers and other bulky documents. There is also an absence of harmonization in the keeping of records amongst cooperatives.

Government is implementing a Cooperatives Division e-Registration Project – CDRP with the objective to provide a platform for application fee to be made online as well as for financial statements to be submitted by cooperatives to be made online. Government is laying emphasis on the rejuvenating of the cooperative movement which can be achieved through introduction of digital facilities.

Rajdeo Kissoonah : “The Cooperative Movement is in progress”

Rajdeo Kissoonah is the president of the Mauritius Cooperative Alliance. He shares the view that cooperative societies can contribute enormously to the economic development of the country. “If there are societies which are in economic difficulties it is because of bad management and lack of transparency,” he says. He is also happy that the coop movement is attracting more youngsters.

Adil Sohawon : “Not enough land available for cattle rearing”

The president of the Cow Breeders Cooperative Society of Nouvelle Découverte, explains that the Ministry of Cooperatives is performing well and Minister Bholah is indeed doing his best at boosting the movement; the only problem is that there is not enough land available for breeders to get involved in cattle rearing.”