CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Definition

Internship is a period of time during which students or recent graduates get  practical experience in a job or in a particular field of study. It allows students to learn practical application of class work.

1.2 Importance of Internship

Internship is a very important part of the academic life of a student. This enables an intern to measure his/her strengths and/or weaknesses concerning practical work on the field. It also gives him an opportunity to meet professionals in his field of study and also gives him the opportunity to receive some mentorship.

To the school, internship is very important because it serves as a medium to market it products (students) to the stakeholders. This could be parents, employers and potential students.

Internship equally serves as a means of measuring performance for the school as the students meet with students from other schools thereby permitting the employers to evaluate the performance of the various schools from their products (students).

Besides, it helps the school to discover some areas in which they are lacking to meet up with the demands of the job market considering the competitive nature of labor in our local market.

The period of internship is equally very important to the organization receiving the intern. Interns are usually young and talented people with fresh memories, innovative and very creative. They are usually abreast with new happenings and innovations in the field.

• These interns therefore could easily identify some weaknesses in the organization or some old methods of doing things which could easily be resolved by adopting new methods. Besides, the interns also help to facilitate work thereby increasing Internship helps improve interpersonal skills such as confidence, maturity, decision making, etc.
• It helps integrate and complement academic studies with the on-the-job professional level experience.
• It also enables us to examine, explore and clarify career goals and options.
• It also helps us to test the personal aptitudes, abilities and interest in relation to our career choice and job demanding productivity and efficiency.

Internship also serves as a marketing tool for the organization, considering the fact that after the internship period interns go out to the community and act as ambassadors of their products or services.

1.3 General Objective of the Internship

My objectives of the internship at Unity Cooperative Society Plc. Buea are as follows;

The first objective is to integrate and complement academic studies with the on-the-job professional level experience to see or examine how the various departments work to achieve the goals of the organization.

The second objective was to examine the extent to which staff interaction and manner of approach can lead to customer loyalty and appreciation and also to see how the various functions of management like organizing, controlling, coordinating, Staffing, etc, leads to the success of the organization.

Another objective was to know the extent to which motivation (both financial and non financial) can lead to increase productivity of staffs and customers satisfaction as a whole.

1.4 Definition of Operational Terms

Loan Delinquency

This is a situation where by a customer or an individual is unable to pay his loan at maturity. MSLCS LTD also encounters delinquent loans even though at a manageable rate.

Bad Debt

A loan which cannot be recovered after 30days from date of maturity is known as a bad debt. The rate of  bad debt in MSLCS LTD is very low, this is because of the effective method it uses to recover loans. Thanks to the loan department. And if a loan is delinquent for one day, the entire sum that is the principal loan is considered to be delinquent.

Overdraft/ Special Operation

This is a short term loan granted to members with standing order who may have an urgent need for money before the end of the month. And is payable in one installment with an interest rate of 5%.

Shares Account

This is an account own by a member of the credit union (shareholders) and not customers. All members are shareholders and each member own a share of 40.000frs no less no more.

Savings Account

This is an account in which a member save his money at no cost and withdraw without charges after a notification of at least a month, without which they will pay a charge of 2% of the amount withdrawn. This account earns interest to the member at the end of the year.

Deposit Account

This serves as a current account and withdrawals can be made from this account at any time. But it does not earn any interest. This account has a minimal charge of .5% of the amount withdrawn

CHAPTER TWO

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE MUTENGENE SAVINGS AND LOAN COOPERATIVE SOCIETY LIMITED (MSLCS)

2.1 Background

Mutengene Co-operative Credit Union LTD now known as MSLCS is located at its own building at Buea Road Mutengene beside Bobga Street and opposite PMUC. This union is first structured into three departments which are; the administrative department, the loans department and the Accounting department. This structure was put in place to meet the objectives of the credit union.

This union started as a discussion group in Pa Fotoh’s premises situated at Tiko Road Mutengene in 1993. This was formed when few members who had prior knowledge of the existence of credit unions in other towns became so eager to have one in their town.

With advice from the League Branch Office in Mutengene, an enlarged meeting was held in the LAFCOOP Conference hall by the end of 1994. At this point in time the venue was transferred from Pah Fotoh’s house to the League Branch Office at Buea Road Mutengene.

The first constituent board meeting was held in March 1994 and the attendance was four out of the five appointed board members together with field workers. By then membership was 33; that is 26 men and 7 women. The business days were Wednesdays and Saturdays, that is, twice a week. By the end of the year, membership statistics showed an increase of 10% while shares stood at 340,000 FCFA and 1,500,000FCFA for males and females respectively.

In the course of 1995, the union became a registered co-operative credit union and later joined the risk management and productive credit Women in Development schemes of the League. That same year, the union was registered with the ministry of Agriculture.

COBAC authorized the union to operate under decision No D2001/05 code No19630 of 11th January 2001.

Through a lot of sensitization of the local population of the importance and benefits of the union and equally mobilization of savings through daily collection, the union has had tremendous growth in total shares/savings and membership ranging from associations, civil servants, pensioners, businessmen, farmers, taxi drivers among others.

Presently, the union can boost of over 4500 active members with total assets of about one billion. Besides, it is affiliated to CAMCCUL and benefits from its risk management scheme.

The union has also expanded geographically to Muea, Limbe Road, Mile 14, and a branch in Douala. Today the business days are Monday to saturday, that is, 8:00am to 4:00pm Monday to Friday and 8:00am to 12noon on Saturday.

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