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Co-ops’ Major Role in Recovery
Annual Co-operative Leaders’ Conference 2009

The co-operative model of self-help and serving members has stood the test of time and is still valid today. The success of our co-operatives is measured not just by profit margins but by how well we meet the needs of our members and the larger community.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports pointed out that even when others were downsizing, the Co-operative Movement retained its workforce and some co-operatives have even increased their staff strength.

Speaking at the SNCF Annual Co-operative Leaders’ Conference held on 4 October 2009 at The St Regis Singapore, Dr Balakrishnan commended the NTUC group of co-operatives for continuing to play a crucial social role of moderating the prices of products and services such as food, insurance, healthcare, childcare and eldercare to name a few. Citing NTUC FairPrice as an example, he highlighted that the leading supermarket retailer provides essential consumer goods at reasonable prices and provides employment for more than 7,000 people in Singapore. Dr Balakrisnan also applauded NTUC First Campus, the largest childcare operator, for its expansion and rebranding exercise to meet our society’s need for more accessible and affordable childcare services.

“Besides the NTUC co-operatives, other co-operatives have, in
their own way, played an important role in meeting the needs of their members and society at large,” he said. To maintain the trust of members and the general public would include not only trust in the co-operative’s stewardship of money and resources but also, the assurance that they will serve and protect members’ interests for the long term.
Co-operatives did right by having a risk-based regulatory framework in place.

Dr Balakrishnan went on to encourage us to promote the co-operative model in order to increase the impact of our co-operatives and our contribution to economic recovery. “We should encourage the formation of new co-operatives and further develop them,” he said.

SNCF, as the Secretariat to the Central Co-operative Fund (CCF) helps seed new initiatives. To date, an encouraging number of organisations and groups of individuals have responded to the call for new co-operatives with strong social missions.