Kipkelion Youth Service Cooperative Society (KYSC) at the beginning of this year 2023, with the aim of supporting the economic activities of the co-operative. The funds financed the establishment of a CoffeeTuk Business and will go a long way towards the setting up a Coffeehouse in future.
It was a great honour to host two interns from GESTE Foundation: Julia Killian and Miriam Schick in our DGRV Kenya Office. They had a significant experience about DGRV Kenya and our project activities in the country and of particular interest, the Kipkelion Youth Service Cooperative Society Limited (KYSC) CoffeeTuk Business, which was fully funded by the GESTE Foundation.
The interns had the privilege to visit the (KYSC) CoffeeTuk in Kericho, where they experienced first-hand experience of the hot drinks and delicacies prepared at the only mobile café in Kenya. Together with the GKCD team, they attended the KYSC supervisory committee meeting, staff appraisal and board meeting.
They also had a farm visit to one of the coffee plantations in Kipkelion, a Coffee factory where pulping of coffee berries is done and finally, they visited the Kipkelion District Cooperative Union (KDCU) Coffee Mill where the final processes are done to get coffee beans ready for use. They were taken through all the stages of processing coffee from the farm to packaging and selling. In addition, the GESTE interns visited to one of the tea plantations in Kericho County, and a tour to one of the Tea Factory where they were taken through the stages of processing tea.
The quests also participated in a workshop in Narok County, aimed at exchanging ideas on how German and Kenyan SACCO businesses operate. This was attended by the officials from Narok County Cooperative Department, and selected SACCOs within Narok County. The experience sharing was great, and there was a lot of lessons learnt that will go a long way in improving the cooperatives.
We are therefore looking forward to bigger partnerships with GESTE Foundation in future.
