After working in the field of business & becoming trading consultant for so long, now it is time for Adri Syahrizal to share his experiences with UGM students who are active as managers and members of Kopma UGM cooperative. As former manager of the cooperative, he wants to see Kopma UGM to be advancing and developing.
Adri Syahrizal is concerned about the response of students to become cooperative members currently. Global condition and instant culture are accused to become the factors that affect the interest of students to become cooperative members. Another factor is that there are many students today who are too study-oriented. "The costs and demand of parents for their children to finish college as quickly as possible do not encourage them to participate in various activities on campus," said Adri, Planning Director of ADMA Yogyakarta, at UGM Student Center on Tuesday (12/7), as speaker in a discussion entitled Cooperative, Training Motivation, Training Results Exhibition and Market of Honesty.
The condition of Kopma UGM today, according to Adri, is very different from when he became the caretaker. At that time, the response of students is very high to become cooperative members so that membership recruitment policy was applied. Although it was contradictive with the principle of openness of cooperatives, Adri assessed that the policy will produce advancement in the cooperative. “A few qualified members were better than a lot of members but unqualified. At that time, there were about 1,000 registrants, about 750 were qualified for the written exam, but we accepted only 250 members," he said.
In the discussion of Cooperative organized by Kopma UGM to commemorate the 64th Day of Cooperatives, Adri Syahrizal assured that the principles adopted by the cooperative are not always opposite to the flow of capitalist and socialist economies. Therefore, he feels optimistic that within the next five years, Kopma UGM Cooperative will have a better development.
Kopma UGM Cooperative is also required to make innovations. The executive board may make breakthroughs, such as working together with Faculty of Dentistry UGM for free treatment. With a touch on the basic needs of campus community, Kopma UGM will certainly attract attention. "In Kopma UGM, students do not only learn many things. The cooperative can still encourage students to be entrepreneurs later on," Adri said.