Internship experience at KAN Jabung Indonesia
11-06-2020Blog by Sophie Horstink, intern Agriterra
The first of February till March 16 I stayed in Malang, Indonesia for an internship for Agriterra. I am third years student Business Administration and Agri-Foodbusiness at the HAS university of applied sciences in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The aim of the internship was to do a market research for Koperasi Agro Niaga Jabung (KAN Jabung) about the milk and yogurt market in east Java. I wrote this blog about my experiences during my internship in Indonesia.
The first week of my internship I had a lot of new experience and information to process. I was really happy that I was not alone and had a warm welcome at KAN Jabung and the Agriterra office Indonesia. It was nice to work together on this assignment with Ayu, an Indonesian student from Bandung. The first two weeks we explored KAN Jabung, their working system and the dairy farmers in Malang area. After the two weeks of exploring we start with the surveys and interviews to collect more information. We did some good team work on this assignment and then COVID-19 showed up…
After a nice 6 weeks, exactly halfway of the internship, I had to go back to the Netherlands because of COVID-19. Sunday night March 15 we decided it was better that Ayu and I had to go home. The next morning, I was on the plane flying home. It was a strange way to end my internship in Indonesia.
But after a week Ayu and I picked up our assignment and we decided to work on it from our homes: Ayu in Bandung Indonesia and I in Rha the Netherlands. It was a pity that we had to end our internship Indonesia earlier than planned, but we were able to finish the assignment from our houses.
Concluding, there are some opportunities for KAN Jabung because there is a growth in diary consuming. Therefore KAN Jabung has to improve and stabilise their product quality and change the milk packaging. The expiration date is not reliable and some retailers said that the packing was not sturdy enough. We recommend to start producing ultra high temperature milk and to get a HACCP certificate to get stable milk quality and longer expiration date. The next step KAN Jabung has to take is to finish the interviews and surveys to make reliable results and conclusions. Because of COVID-19 we couldn’t finish it. Also they have to do research if it is profitable to invest in the HACCP certificate and in the UHT technology.
I learned a lot from the Indonesia hospitality and the culture differences. Sometimes I felt like a celebrity, I have never taken so many pictures with strangers. The typical Indonesian lunches at the cooperative were every day different and super delicious. The same for the nice street food we took for dinner. What I miss the most of Indonesia is the kind people, the beautiful nature, and the lovely food. I really hope to get another change to visit Indonesia and KAN Jabung.
Sophie also made a vlog of her internship, only she couldn't finish it.
Click here to watch the vlog
