What would it be like to be strong enough to pick up a car? Well, let's think again. What if you had 10 or 20 people all picking up the car together?
Twezimbe ACE (Uganda), Mwea Rice Growers and Ng’arua Maize Millers (Kenya), converged for a three-day workshop at Nyahururu in Kenya to discuss ‘member commitment’. They share a tale of ambitions. To achieve their business ambitions, they need more active members in their cooperatives. All three Agriterra clients are in different levels of development but with similar goals and challenges.
Workshop trainer Trienke Elshof – dairy farmer; she finished her study MBA Food and Finance at Nyenrode Business University with thesis about member commitment at FrieslandCampina - started with explaining the meaning of member commitment: members feel connected to and identify themselves with their cooperative and are also accepting the goals and willing to participate in decision making.
Trienke described types of member commitment as being either, Affective (based on feelings), Calculative (financially driven), Imperative (no alternative) and Normative (values and standards). These types of commitment were expressed from member-answers on the second day of the workshop after meeting Ng’arua Millers’ members. The founders of the cooperative were more imperatively committed, whereas the young members were more calculative committed.
Access to working capital is a weakness of all three cooperatives. If the management communicates better with the members, trust grows as well as loyalty to the cooperatives.
Reasons for farmers to become member of Twezimbe, Mwea Grice Growers or Ng’arua Maize Millers are good prices, payment periods, dividends, volumes purchased, meetings and financial services.
During the workshop participants explained in flipcharts their organisation, SWOT analysis and action-plans for member commitment and capitalisation.
A happy decisive member means cooperative success. For an increased member commitment, the management must share cooperative identity, the board should appreciate the input of members and better communication.
