Balik Pulau Social Entrepreneurs Club (KUSBP) got her new sets of wings...

by Nasir Sobri, Vice Chairman of KUS Balik Pulau (2009/2010)

BALIK PULAU - Kelab Usahawan Sosial (KUS) Balik Pulau organized its 2009 Annual General Meeting (AGM) yesterday at Balik Pulau Sports Complex, that was attended by over 50 people from various walks of life, including kids as young as under 5 years of age to senior citizens over 65 years of age - of course, only those over 18 years old legally participated in the election of its 2nd pro tem committee en route to become a registered society towards empowering the local community with entrepreneurial and socially-benefitting activities and ventures.

KUSBP's incumbent Chairman, En. Yuhezri bin Mohd Yusuff, 39, of Landsea Enterprise was re-elected to continue chairing the pro tem commitee, and he will be assisted by nine other committee members including four other sitting committee members namely Cik Sarina, Cik Fardilah, Puan Siti Huraizah and En. Nasir. The newly refreshed committee of KUS Balik Pulau now includes members from as young as 23 and as senior as 69 representing various adult generations in Balik Pulau.

During the first committee meeting for 2009/2010 session held afterwards, Cik Sarina bt. Ishak of Challenger Enterprise (as well as presently serving as Assistant Manager for PID Balik Pulau) and Puan Rosidah bt. Mohamad Ismail, 36, of Kesidang Rose Enterprise (maker of Kesidang Rose carbonated beverage as marketed at KUMUDA-AMAN centre) have been appointed as KUSBP's pro tem Honorary Secretary, and Honorary Treasurer respectively.

Photos from above slideshow movie can be viewed on Facebook, as linked from KUSBP's Facebook Page.

Prior during the AGM session, a Member of Penang State Legislative Assembly (ADUN) for Pulau Betong, Balik Pulau, YB Hj Muhamad Farid bin Hj Saad delivered a keynote and later officiated the meeting. In his speech, he rallied members of KUSBP to also join and support a new cooperative corporation - Koperasi Usahawan Muda Pulau Pinang Bhd (KUMUDA) that KUS has been instrumental in setting it up and supporting its early months of activities, following several meetings and dialogues since March 2009 which Muhamad Farid also participated in - KUMUDA was officially registered with Suruhanjaya Koperasi Malaysia (SKM) in June 2009, facilitated by KUS and a pro tem committee/board of directors secretariat based at PID Balik Pulau.

Besides financial contribution totalling RM1,500 to KUSBP in 2009 particularly for the Blog Bash @ Penang City, a social media sharing event held in Kongsi earlier this year, Muhamad Farid also pledged double the monetary support to at least RM3,000 for KUSBP activities in 2010. YB Farid, as he's affectionately refered to, is also a patron of PID Balik Pulau as well as an advisor for KUS Balik Pulau and KUMUDA.

The meetup at Kompleks Sukan Balik Pulau MPPP also includes a presentation by En. Hazhari from Penang Rural Development Authority (PERDA), a briefing on PID Global Entrepreneurship Month 2009 by Siti Huraizah from Pusat Internet Desa (PID) and a talk on Karnival Usahawan & ICT KUS 2009 by En. Nasir who is also the Honorary Secretary for Persatuan Usahawan ICT Pulau Pinang (ICT Penang), regional host for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009/Malaysia.

KUS Balik Pulau has registered paid members totalling over 90 by 30 September 2009, as detailed in its AGM 2009 report. Besides, it has also received over 30 online registrations via its blog site - memberships pending confirmation and joining fee completion. KUSBP plans to register over 1,000 members within twelve months from today by not limiting it to just residents of Kongsi town/Pulau Betong village area of Balik Pulau, in order to represent at least 2-percent of adult population in Balik Pulau parliamentary area - including DUN areas of Teluk Bahang, Pulau Betong and Bayan Lepas (not including Bayan Lepas Industrial Zone and Bayan Baru) or Southwest District of Penang State - half the size of Penang island.

KUS-BP currently maintains its online presence at http://balikpulau.org (or http://bp.pp.my) and http://kusbp.pp.my besides at various social media sites with its Facebook page newly set up in October garnering dozens of fans, its Balik Pulau Group on Facebook has been joined by over 200 members, and its "@BalikPulau" Twitter identity set up eight months earlier is being followed by over 1,400 users making it into top-400 most popular Twitter identities in Malaysia (or Top-55 as of 25 OCT 2009, according to TwitterHolic). KUS-BP welcomes everyone to join its Balik Pulau Facebook Group towards populating it with at least 1,000 users by or before 10/10 '10.


What are you waiting for?
Let's activate the community and fly high, locally, nationally and globally!

Join KUS Balik Pulau TODAY:

Enter your national identification/MyKAD number to join KUS Balik Pulau and submit payment, online, for the registration fee (applicable once your membership request has been approved during subsequent official committee meetings).

(Joining fee, including first annual fee is only RM20 - includes membership and privileges (until 2010) to services at any of the 42 PIDs throughout Malaysia, worth RM10. Members of KUSBP are entitled for participating in AGMs, notifications on all activities organized by KUSBP, discounts on KUS merchandises & services, and many other benefits. Fees can be paid online using any major credit card (via Paypal) or Maybank2u etc - Refer http://usahawan.balikpulau.org for more information.)

EXTRA NOTES: The new committee with its volunteer team members are supporting back-to-back events organized by PID Balik Pulau during its Bulan Keusahawanan Global PID (22 OCT - 22 NOV 2009), as well as will host Balik Pulau's first ICT & Entrepreneurship Carnival (K-U&I) set for the weekend of 7 & 8 November, 2009.

The Carnival, which will include awards & competitions, multimedia workshops, entrepreneurial talks, flea market & computer fair, family fun day, cultural and musical shows etc. has been organized in conjuction with Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009 campaign (the 7-day week starting Monday, 16 NOV 2009) as to be held at over tens of thousands venues by over 10,000 host-partners, in over a hundred countries - including by over 300 host-partners in Malaysia.

Bulan Keusahawanan PID @ Balik Pulau 2009 (22 OKT - 22 NOV)

KUS Balik Pulau welcomes more activity partners and/or sponsors for this first-ever event of its kind in Balik Pulau, set to be the biggest GEW/MUG 2009 celebration in northern region of Malaysia. Targetted audience is 2,000+ attendees on site and over 40,000 people via online and offline media. For details and progressive updates, refer http://karnivalusahawan.eventbrite.com and http://kusbp.pp.my, or contact KUS-PID Balik Pulau Secretariat (Pn Ija/Cik Sarina) at +60 4 866-2706 [phone/fax].