by IAN MCINTYRE
TROPICAL Charters Sdn Bhd is believed to be the first travel firm in the country to form a co-operative entity for its staffers in a bid to allow them to enjoy more fringe benefits.
Based in Langkawi, its founder Datuk Issac Alexander, an outspoken advocate of sustainable tourism, said that he was inspired to form a cooperative after attending a conference on the matter by the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA).
Hence since early this year, Alexander or Alex to friends, has established the co-operative for 60 staffers within the Tropical group, which provides yachting, charting and travel agency services to inbound tourists heading over to the island resort.
He said that the first outcome was for the staffers to be given stakes in the company through the co-operative.
Then, it is followed by upskilling courses and medical benefits, which would be channelled through the co-operative, said Alex in an interview.
“We want the entity to be involved in businesses. To invest and seek good returns for the co-operative. We also hope they can explore investing in tourism start – ups with strong potential.
“We want our colleagues – the staffers to have stakeholder roles and further benefits in the company.”
A contented group of staffers is good motivation for the company to fare well in the competitive nature of the tourism industry, he added.
Alex said that to entice the staffers, he needed to explain the benefits of joining the co – operative and the majority have agreed to the prospect of providing more value to their employment here.
Future benefits of the co – operative is to launch technical and vocational educational training (TVET) for its members.
There is a need to upgrade skills including in foreign language comprehension to bring more value to tourism too.
The co – operative is chaired by Mohd Fadhir Kamaruddin and annual dividends are expected to be in the range of 10% to 18%, depending on the returns it receives, said Alex.
He said that Tropical Charters is also heeding the call by the Federal Government to expand the number of co -operatives in the country.
Reports from the Malaysia Co-operative Societies Commission stated that there were over 16,000 co-operatives last year.
In 2019, the 14,417 co-operatives in Malaysia generated an annual turnover of RM24.65 billion and held RM147.3 billion in assets, it was reported.
