KISII UNIVERSITY MAIN CAMPUS

INDUSTRIAL ATTACHMENT REPORT

AT
WAKENYA PAMOJA SACCO
KISII COUNTY
BY
JAMES KIMEMIA GITHUA

REG NO: CB17/10354/17

BACHELOR OF COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT
ATTACHMENT FROM: 28TH JUNE 2021
TO: 10ST SEPTEMBER 2021
THIS IS AN ACADEMIC INDUSTRIAL REPORT THAT IS TO BE
SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS

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ADMINISTRATIONS AND HUMAN RESOURCES AS PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT FOR BACHELOR OF COOPERATIVE
MANAGEMENT in KISII UNIVERSITY MAIN CAMPUS

Declarations

I declare that this report is my original work and has not been presented in any other
institution of higher learning for the award of degree. I hereby declare that all information in
this document has not been obtained and presented in accordance to the best of my
attachment knowledge, academic rules and ethical conduct.

James kimemia githua

cb17/10354/17
Signature:
………………………………………………………………Date:…………………………………………

UNIVERSITY SUPERVISOR

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 Signature:…………………………………………………………………Date:
………………………………………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank Mr. TIMITHY MORARA , my supervisor who with enthusiasm welcomed
me to wakenya pamoja Sacco Limited and taught me values and morals, guidance and his

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unique way of helping me cope up with different challenges that arose during my attachment
period.
I would also like to thank wakenya pamoja
Sacco for accepting my request for an attachment place.

Thirdly I thank my university for

being supportive and believing in me during the assessment and for the words of
encouragement.

I also thank my parents and friends for moral support and encouragement.

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 DEDICATION

I dedicate this report to the almighty God for his grace providence and protection throughout
my entire attachment period. To my dad and my mom for their financial support and your
confidence in me despite the many struggles and challenges and for never giving up on me. And
to anyone who encouragement and prayers for me all through my attachment period. You have
really impacted a lot during this time and that’s why I was able to complete without any harm
coming to me.

Lastly, I would like to dedicate this report to my friends and my fellow attachment buddies
from different institutions who without them I would be clueless on what to include in my
report and for their motivational talks and for cheering me up when I as down.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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DECLARATION I
ACKNOLEDGEMENT II
DEDICATION III
LIST OF FIGURES IV
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS V
DEFINITION OF TERMS V
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY V
CHAPTER 1 : ORGANISATIONAL PROFILE 1
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Geographical Location 2
1.2 Historical Background 2
1.3 Vision 3
1.4 Mission 4
1.5 Core Values 4
1.6 Core Objectives 5
1.7 Society’s Objectives 5
1.8 Organizational Structure 6
1.9 Details of the Placement 7
CHAPTER 2 : ATTACHMENT EXPERIENCES 8
2.1 General Activities Undertaken 8
2.2 Specific Activities Undertaken 8
2.3 Analysis of Learnt Knowledge and Applied Skills 9
2.4 A Profile of Skills and Competencies Gained 9
2.5 Observation and Critique 10
CHAPTER 3 : SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
3.1 Summary 11
3.2 Conclusion 11
3.3 Recommendations 11
CHAPTER 4 : REFERENCES 12

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CHAPTER 5 : APPENDICES 12

TABLES/PICTURES
1.1 geographical locations of wakenya

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS and ACRONYMS

- WPSC – wakenya pamoja Sacco Co-operative Society Limited

- CRJ – Credit Sale Journals

CSJ – Cash Sale Journals

- MDJ – Member Debtors journal

- DMJ – Debtor Member Journal

-DN – Delivery Note

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-GRN – Good Received Note

- GKCM – GUSII Kenya Coffee Millers

- CPP – Crop Protection Products

- CB – Conditioning Bins

- PS – Parchment Store

DEFINITION OF TERMS

- Parchment - It is a store where coffee resulting from washing the fruit of the coffee, removing
all its outer layers and drying, is stored ready for milling.

-Shade - It is a built place where drying of the coffee whose layers has been
removed during processing is done.

- Shade nets - It is a high quality knitted shade cloth used in broad variety of coffee to exclude
birds, to provide uniform shadow and to control air movement.

- Order - It is a stated intention, either spoken or written, to engage in a

commercial transaction for specific products or services.

- Conditioning bins -These are structures built with mesh-wire where coffee that is not dried
enough is kept to minimize spoilage and quality loss.

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 - Credit Sale Journal-It is a special journal that is used to record all credit
sales/transactions.

- Pulp tank- It is a large cylindrical vessel which functions as intermediate storage of cooked pulp
and from which the pulp is discharged in an even flow to a washing process.

- Clean Coffee-It is coffee that has undergone washing, removal of all its outer
layers, drying and is now ready for milling.

- Nursery bed – It is a set aside area used for germination of coffee seeds and for establishing
young coffee plants prior to planting them in the final positions.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

An executive summary is a concise summary of any written report. It restates the purpose of the
report. It highlights the major points of the report and it describes any results, conclusions or
recommendation from the report.

This report is a compilation of all the activities I undertook at wakenya pamoja Farmers’ Co-
operative Society Limited. This report therefore consists of the following areas which are
explained and expounded in their respective chapters.

∙ Introductory chapter

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 Generally, this chapter is about the company in general. That is, where it is located, its vision
and mission statements, core values, core objectives and also how work is delegated. It also
contains specifics of the particular department.

. Attachment Experience

This explains in great detail the activities that I, as an attaché was able to undertake during the
attachment period ,i.e., those that are
only related to the department and those that are general to the whole organization. This
chapter also explains the skills that were acquired during the training and critique on the
organization.

Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation

This last chapter simply gives the synopsis of the whole training experience and any
recommendation that the company may undertake to improve its effectiveness and efficiency.

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CHAPTER 1: ORGANISATIONAL PROFILE

1.0 Introduction

An industrial attachment is crucial for every student in the institutions of higher learning. It helps
students gain skills, competencies and interactive communication skills. The main objective of industrial
attachment is to help students gain adoptive characteristics in an environment they may be exposed in
their working areas. This report documents some of the experiences gained, challenges and some
recommendations during the period I was attached at wakenya pamoja Co-operative Society Limited.

1.1 Geographical Location

wakenya pamoja Sacco is located in Kisii County near kisii town daraja moja on kisii -sotik highway. The
catchment area covers nyamira and migori . It is about 100m from kisii county government. Kisii County

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is one of the five counties in nyanza Kenya. It is bordered by nyamira, migori, bomet and

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Table 1.1

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 1.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Wakenya Pamoja Sacco Society Limited (WPS) was started in 1976 as a Union Banking Section of Kisii
Farmers Co-operative Union (KFCU). It became autonomous in 1992 under the name Gusii Farmers Rural
Sacco Society Limited (GRFS). The Society has, over the years, undergone major governance reforms
which have facilitated: the change of name which was in line with the strategic move to expand
geographically and explore other financial opportunities; and diversification of the membership to
increase the society’s scope beyond tea and coffee to include value chain financing, microfinance,
business development financing, asset financing among others.

The diversification into microfinance followed by value chain financing has created the impetus and the
incentive for change in the society. In turn, due to the positive impact of change in governance and the
organization of the society, success in the two ventures can now take place and be expanded.

It should however be noted that, it is under the leadership of the Board of Directors and the Senior
Management of WPS, that bold and visionary decisions were taken to finance all the microfinance and
value chain pilots, and scaling up by investing the society’s own funds complemented with external
debt. Only technical assistance (CIDR) was provided on grants, making this process and model
sustainable and replicable.

The Society was formed under the Cooperative Society’s Act and Regulations. With introduction of the
SACCO Societies Act 2008, the Society now operates under a regulator i.e. the Sacco Societies
Regulatory Authority (SASRA) and its By-laws. WPS, on the 20th day of April 2011, was licensed to
conduct deposit-taking Sacco business, subject to the provisions of the Sacco Societies Act No. 14 of
2008 and the regulations, being the among the first ten Sacco’s to be licensed by SASRA. WPS is run
through a delegates system with the annual delegates meeting as the supreme decision making body.

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The Society is managed by a board of directors structured into various committees. The day to day
running of the Sacco is by the CEO and the staff. The Society is structured into various departments
namely: Finance, Operations, Credit, Marketing, Microfinance, Internal Audit, Information
Communication and Technology, and Human Resource.

1.3 Vision

To be the financial service provider of choice.

1.4 Mission

To enhance socio-economic welfare of our members through provision of affordable, accessible and
sustainable financial services

1.5 Core Values

customers focus

Team work

Innovative

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Professionalism

1.6 Society’s objectives

- To increase culture of saving by providing saving facilities to members and non-members.

- Improve coffee quality through modernizing processing plants and enhancing farmers’ capacity by
issuing loan facilities to members and non -members .

- To secure gainful markets for members produce through promotion of value addation, maintaining
certification standards and establishing market information points.

- Strong and motivated human resource based by recruiting competent employees.

- To reduce operational costs through computerization of operations.

- Develop high level leadership, accountability and transparency at all levels.

- provide loan facilities to members and non -members at lower interest rate.

Wakenya pamoja sacco also provides service such

 ATM
 M BANKING
 ONLINE SERVICES
 INSURANCES POLICIES

 1.6 Organizational Structure

 Chief Executive Officer

 Operations Manager

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  Finance Manager

 Internal Auditor

 ICT Manager

 Marketing Manager

 Human Resource Manager

 Micro Finance Manager 

 Debt Recovery Unit Manager 

 Credit Manager

 Procurement manager 

 Chief Cashier 

1.7 Details of the Placement

- Dissemination of information requested by members of the society about the state of their personal
accounts.

- Preparation of weekly c report summary and forwarding the data to the secretary
manager

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- Filling of member debtor journal (MDJ) for those members who bought crop protection products and
other inputs on credit.

- Promotion of society products where selling of Tira Finest Coffee is the product .

- Provision of information on the stocks remaining in the main store and the sub-stores
and those already bought by farmers.

- Appraisal of loans where detailed information on the coffee production by the

borrower for the past three years is provided.

- Approval of welfare funds to members as per the intensity of

their production.

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CHAPTER 2: ATTACHMENT EXPERIENCES

2.1 General Activities Undertaken

- checking of customers inquiries such as account balance, loan

balance ,shares and others services .

-Participated in the society meetings where I attended as a representative of the society.

- Went to the field to distribute crop protection products, farm inputs, coffee seedlings and also
macadamia seedlings.

- Attended to queries by members of the society on their accounts and loan balances.

- Prepared requests for orders for those farm inputs and coffee
protection products that went out of stock.

- Bought coffee from famers using the computerized coffee weighing machines.

- Prepared good received noted for any coffee protection product or farm input that as
delivered by the particular company contracted by the society.

- Prepared delivery notes to any sub store I visited to distribute coffee

protection products or farm inputs such as fertilizers .

- Ensured proper count of any arriving product or

departing product to enhance accuracy and ensure there does not occur shortages or overdue.

2.2 Specific Activities Undertaken

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-Updated the main stock card and the stock cards for the sales and marketing personnel.

- Issued cash sale receipts to the sales and marketing personnel and to customers.

- Added new members into the society where I capture their personal information and
fed it into the society system.

- I appraised loans for borrowers by giving data of their coffee produce

for the last 3 years.
- Wrote a weekly chemical summary report to determine the
remaining stock of the coffee protection products and the stock that is already sold.

- Filed welfare funds journals so as to preserve

evidence in case a loan defaulter or a disclaimer emerged.

- Posted loans borrowed by members into the computer system .

- Counter-checked loan postings by clerks to ensure accuracy.

- Bought coffee from farmers using the computerized weighing machines.

- Distributed crop protection products and farm inputs from the main store to the sub-
stores of the society.
- Reconciliation of loan journals to ensure that unnecessary loan burdens are
not cast to the farmers.

2.3 Analysis of Learnt Knowledge and Applied Skills

- Communication skills. My interaction with the

clients (both farmers and outside clients) and staff of other offices boosted my communication skills a
great deal during my attachment period.

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 - I was able to apply mathematics skills
in budget making, planning for the estimated income and allocation of resources to different factories.

- Confidentiality. I learnt that

organizational information is key and should not be disposed carelessly or shared to the public.

- Networking. I learnt a lot about how to interact with different groups of people relating to working
condition and working profile.

- I learnt how to appraise loans and under what conditions a member cannot
qualify for a loan.
- I learnt the goods ordering process and the documents
involved in the ordering process.

2.4 A Profile of Skills and

Competencies Gained
- Planning and
presentation of data provided.
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Dissemination of precise information as requested by members.

- Interpretation of graphs and charts during analysis.

- Learnt how to make a budget of the estimated income and how to allocate it
to different activities for development purposes.

- Report writing by preparing a report for the society

committee during general meeting .

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- Recognized the need for teamwork and the importance of co-ordination in the management.

- Learnt much on risk management, record keeping and financial management.

- Gained knowledge on analysis, monitoring and evaluation of the

expenditure analysis.
2.5 Observation and Critique

Observations

I observed the
following during my attachment period;
-
Teamwork is key in every organization in that the organization goals and objectives are met without any
hardship as people are actively involved in their duties.

- Communication from one office to another is made easier by installation of telephone in every office.

- There were trained and professional staffs who worked tirelessly to ensure that the
departmental duties are done with proficiency.

- The attachment is important for it helps to gain other skills which are not
learnt from studying.
Critique

- There was poor sanitation in the office I worked from and the toilets were poorly maintained.

- There was still no automation/computerization of some essential matters which resulted to use of
hardcopies and filing of those copies which made it tiresome to locate documents when need occurred.

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 - The office messenger was overloaded with duties which made her lack time to do
cleaning of offices and toilets and this resulted to poor sanitation.

- The working space was limited which led to congestion.

- As big as the society is, it does not have a website.

- The buildings inside the society especially the offices are too old and not eye catching. The iron sheets
are bleached and some are even worn out.

- There were no enough hand-washing points, no sanitizers yet it is a requirement for every organization
to observe COVID-19 safety protocols.

Challenges

- Use of outdated operating system (windows 7) which lacks some vital features such as control of
brightness which negatively affected my eyes and vision .

- Failure of the organization to provide its staff with sanitizers and face masks.

- Poor sanitation and scarcity of office equipment was a challenge in my

daily activities.

- Lack of financial support to the attachés was a great challenge in exploiting the best from them.

- Serving rude customers which made my day and duties difficult.

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 Solution to challenges

- Used personal computers and internet to curb the problem of

computer shortage and the outdated operating system problem.

-Managed to utilize the boardroom to create room for

our operations.
- Managed to keep the office tidy and in order.

- Carried my on nose mask and

sanitizers from home.
- used my savings to
fund myself during my attachment period.
The
Relevance of Experience to Training

- To develop new skills and refine others.

- To help build students’ confidence.

- To help students be able to adapt to any working environment

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- Enable student to interact with employees and employers of diverse characters how to become role
models.

- Provide an opportunity for students to apply theoretical knowledge taught in class and gain some
experiences during the attachment period.

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- Equips student with appropriate job skills and knowledge needed in the working field.

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CHAPTER 3: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

3.1 Summary

wakenya pamoja Co-operative Society Limited is group of Sacco

generally belong to gusii community and it draw also members from others part of Kenya and western
region of Kenya that provides loan facilities to coffee farmers and provide Sacco’s services such as
saving and withdraw of money
It was a noble opportunity to put into practice the
theory work that I had learnt in class hence it made me understand better each and every aspect.

3.2 Conclusion

The two months of

attachment at WPS were great resourceful and an eye opener.
Not only did I come
out full of new experience and learning but also I got to know and understand organizational setups
through exposure visits to all the seven factories making the society. This was great as I got to know
mathematical applications outside school.
During
the period of attachment I was not limited to mathematics as I interacted with students and
professionals from other disciplines like software engineering and mechanical engineering .This was
useful as we applied our different skills and knowledge while dissecting a problem.

3.3 Recommendations

- I recommend that WPS employs at least another messenger to avoid

overloading the only single employed messenger who barely finishes all her expected duties in a day.

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-I recommend that BUSINESS ADMINSTRATIONS t at KISII needs to collaborate with many more
companies/organizations like WKPS on attachments and joint publications and research.

- I recommend that WPCS applies transport models while making trips during coffee
transportations to Central Kenya Coffee Millers. By employing these mathematical models and linear
programming, there will be minimization of the cost of distributing products and coffee transportation.

- I recommend that WKPCS modernizes and digitizes operations in the

organization by doing away with filing and hardcopies and substituting all that with computers to
enhance office automation which will greatly decrease the work load and will save time.

- I recommend that WKP CS renovates their buildings and offices to give the society an eye appealing
look and presentation.

- I recommend that WKPCS adopts distributed system of computers whereby a member does not have
to move from one factory to the headquarters to access a service which they could still have accessed at
their home factory if the society computers were interconnected. This will save time, money and energy
moving from one place to another.

- I recommend that WKPCS purchases more computers and install updated operating systems as some
outdated operating systems does not have some crucial features required in an office.

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CHAPTER 4: REFERENCES

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WAKENYA PAMOJA SACCO AND GUSII COOPERATIVES

Student’s logbook

CHAPTER 5: APPENDICES

Attachment logbook