The Institutional Strengthening of Inovasi Ummat Sharia Cooperative and Firdaus Pesantren Cooperative Pangalengan

Abstract

Margamulya village, Pangalengan, is a coffee-producing area that has great potentials to be developed. Its consumers not only come from local communities, but also from national and even international scale. This great potential needs to be supported by various efforts so that it continues to exist and grow. One of the efforts was the establishment of Mitra Inovasi Ummat sharia cooperative since 2018 aiming at managing the finances of the cooperative members. The results of Community Service in 2019 had succeeded in increasing the knowledge and skills of cooperative management about various products and contracts for collecting and distributing funds used in sharia cooperatives. Based on the results of the evaluation and consultation of the cooperative management, it was found that urgent problems needed to be followed up, namely: (1) institutional problems in which that the established cooperative had not had a legal entity yet and had not even been registered with a notary; (2) communication problems with BAZ as an institution that had encouraged financially for capital of the initial establishment; and (3) cooperative problems with sharia cooperative of Firdaus Pesantren which was close and had the potential to cooperate with other institutions. Community Service 2020 aimed at strengthening the institutional aspects of sharia cooperatives, namely 1) obtaining legal entity approval from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights; 2) acquiring mediation to coordinate with BAZ of West Java Province; and 3) establishing cooperation with Firdaus Pesantren cooperative and other institutions. The method used training, mentoring, and advocacy on the legal aspects of sharia cooperatives, and initiating collaboration with other related parties. The Community Service participants were the administrators and representatives of 26 members of Mitra Inovasi Ummat sharia cooperative and Firdaus Pesantren cooperative at Margamulya village, Pangalengan. Strengthening legal aspects and cooperation made these two sharia cooperatives be institutionally strong and financially improved.