Letter of Transmittal

9th May, 2015

Mr. Muntasir Alam
Senior Lecturer
Department of Accounting and Finance
North South University

Sub: Submission of the Internship Report

Dear Faculty,
I have the pleasure to submit my Internship report on Kaymu Bangladesh a requirement for my
graduation. You are aware that I have recently completed my internship program in Kaymu
Bangladesh from 26th January, 2015 to 26th April 2015. I joined there under the Finance
department. I am fortunate enough that I have got an experienced, efficient and Professional
team in one of the reputed online market place of Bangladesh. I truly believe that this report will
satisfy your requirements and expectations. I have tried my best to make this report informative,
practical, reliable and relevant as possible.
.
I appreciate your valuable advice, cooperation, patience and suggestions regarding this report,
which will definitely help me to go ahead as a brilliant guideline.

I honestly hope that this report will reflect the idea about the functions of finance and accounts
with the critical problems that I have faced in their service activity. I hope you will find this
worth all the labor and effort that I have given to complete the report.

Sincerely,
Mushfiqur Rahman
ID- 1110685030
School Of Business
North South University

1
 Acknowledgement:

I am thankful and grateful to my honorable Faculty, Mr. Muntasir Alam, Senior Lecturer of
North South University for giving me the opportunity to do the report on Kaymu Bangladesh. On
the design of this report, I again want to thank my honorable Academic supervisor for providing
the format and helping me, understand about the format. I would like to give warm thanks to my
Honorable Supervisor Mr. Syed Salman Ali (Head of Finance); Mr. Vaibhav Krishna. (Head of
Seller Management); Mr. Junayed Mustafa (Head of Acquisition) and Miss Zarin Sultana (Sr.
Executive - Customer Service) for helping me when I needed and all the officials and staffs of
Kaymu for their friendly behavior, heartiest cooperation and other services during my internship
period. Also I would like to pass gratitude to the colleagues who relentlessly helped me to carry
out my responsibilities.

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Executive Summary
This paper examines the prospect of Kaymu Bangladesh in the Bangladeshi e-commerce
industry. This paper looks into the e-commerce industry in the Bangladesh, introduces Kaymu
and its business model, compares it with current market players and looks to see the feasibility
and sustainability of Kaymu financially. Although due to confidentiality reasons, financial data
was not possible to give.

Kaymu is the brainchild of the world's largest internet incubator Rocket Internet. It started its
operations in Bangladesh at the end of 2013 and within a very short span of time, has become
quite popular. Kaymu replicates the eBay model of buying and selling where sellers sell on
Kaymu in exchange of a commission percentage on sales. Kaymu is an online marketplace
where sellers and buyers meet and exchange goods. Buyer can order anything from Kaymu and
pay via cash on delivery (especially in Dhaka) and can receive products via home delivery all
over Bangladesh (some sellers take prepayment via bank account or mobile banking). Kaymu
markets the brand names of the sellers via social media, e-marketing (newsletters) and Google
Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The sellers find Kaymu easy to sell through to as Kaymu
does not keep their stocks neither do they handle the payment. The sellers use Kaymu as a
platform to get buyers and they do the contacting buyer and product delivery on their own or by
using third party delivery system. Problems arise when delivery systems become unable to take
the pressure and buyers suffer. Kaymu is still on the lookout for a dependable delivery partner.

Financially Kaymu hopes to break even within the third year. Currently it runs from parent
company funding and focuses on investing heavily on marketing to gain market share. The
company’s revenue has hundred folded than its inception and it is on the rise. Kaymu looks to
bring on board more sellers to give the buyers more variety of products and at competitive rates.
This attracts more buyers and Kaymu customer base is increasing day by day.

Given the fact that Kaymu is a new company in the market, this study gives a clear look at the
operations of Kaymu in Bangladesh, its challenges and talks about the buyer seller experiences
and comparisons with other e-commerce sites.

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 TableContents
of Contents

Part A: Company Info.......................................................................................................................5

Company Background..............................................................................................................7
How Kaymu Functions............................................................................................................9
Part B: The Internship Project........................................................................................................11
Compare and Contrast in learning’s at Internship and classes:.......................................19
Part C: Observations Made............................................................................................................20
Motivation factors...................................................................................................................21
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................22
Appendix.......................................................................................................................................23
Weekly Journals.............................................................................................................................24
Weekly Journal 01: 26th January – 29th January...................................................................24
Weekly Journal 02: 01st February – 05th February...............................................................25
Weekly Journal 03: 08th February – 12th February...............................................................26
Weekly Journal 04: 15th February – 19th February...............................................................27
Weekly Journal 05: 22nd February – 26th March...................................................................28
Weekly Journal 06: 01st March – 05th March........................................................................29
Weekly Journal 07: 08th March – 12th March........................................................................30
Weekly Journal 8: 15th March – 19th March..........................................................................31
Weekly Journal 9: 22nd March – 26th March.........................................................................32
Weekly Journal 10: 29th March – 02nd April.........................................................................32
Weekly Journal 11: 05th April – 09th April............................................................................33
Weekly Journal 12: 12th April – 16th April............................................................................34
Weekly Journal 13: 19th April – 23rd April............................................................................35
Weekly Journal 14: 26th April.................................................................................................36

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Part A: Company Info
E-commerce refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronics system
through internet or others computer networks. E-commerce improves the efficiency and
effectiveness of business, government and not profit organization agencies. Online transactions
can effectively save a lot of time and money which often is the main reason for consumers to
shop online rather than purchasing from a physical marketplace.

“Kaymu Bangladesh Logo”

Bangladesh should have been a large marketplace worldwide due to its high level of population
but it is not so as the people in Bangladesh are not much aware or educated to use the online
marketplace. Bangladesh is one of the largest market in the world as population but the peoples
are not well enough for online market yet. Previously, people would use computers for
completing educational assignments or used for governmental or private projects. Just recently,
the online market boomed and now more and more people are shopping online.

“Kaymu Bangladesh Slogan”

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Kaymu is the leading online marketplace for emerging markets. Kaymu replicates the eBay
model (online marketplace where buyer meets sellers) in emerging countries where they do not
have eBay. Kaymu is a venture of Rocket Internet which is one of the world's largest e-
commerce focused venture capital firms and startup incubators. The company's business model is
to identify successful internet ventures from other countries (often the United States) and
replicate them in predominantly emerging markets. Kaymu operates an online marketplace
enabling end customers to buy and sell basically anything online. Kaymu follows eBay, a
successful peer model, is the leading C2C online marketplace in the world.

Kaymu Bangladesh was launched in October 2013 and as of May 2014 it is ranked as the 229 th
website in Bangladesh right after only 5 e-commerce sites- OLX, Ekhanei, Click BD, Rokomari
and bdstall.com. It has surpassed akhoni.com which is ranked 261 and biponee.com which is
ranked 326 (source: www.alexa.com).

Kaymu focuses on the buyers and sellers. The sellers are the clients of Kaymu who sells products
in the website and Kaymu focuses on them because the only way Kaymu makes money is if the
sellers make money. By focusing on obtaining quality sellers, Kaymu ensures buyers get good
products and good services from good sellers and get competitive deals from sellers and are
satisfied.

This report looks into the operations of Kaymu in Bangladesh especially focusing on the issues
faced by a new business and its prospect in the Bangladeshi e-commerce market. The following
chapters contain more in-depth information and analysis on this matter.

6
 Figure 1: Why Consumers Prefer Online Shopping, Source: www.quartsoft.com

Figure 2: The Number of Internet Users in Bangladesh

Company Background

Kaymu’s parent company Rocket Internet is the world's largest Internet incubator. It was found
in Berlin, Germany in 2007 by the Samwer Brothers (it is headquartered in Berlin). The Rocket
team has been building online companies since 1999 and has created over 100 market leading
companies in 50+ countries. The founders gained visibility through successful investments in
Groupon, eBay, Facebook, Linkedin, Zynga, etc (either through early direct investment or
through taken over target companies). The company's business model is to identify successful
internet ventures from other countries (often the United States) and replicate them in
7
predominantly emerging markets. In 2013, Rocket Internet raised close to $2 billion from
investors including Russian billionaire Leonard Blavatnik, Swedish investment firm Kinnevik,
and J.P. Morgan. This is in addition to nearly $2 billion that Rocket raised in 2012. The firm,
tightly controlled by its founders, is known for its aggressive approach in managing its invested
ventures. It prides itself for the speed of execution and ability to hire exceptional talent.

Rocket Internet operates in more than 50 countries and has more than 75 ventures in their
portfolio such as the e-commerce retail companies Zalando in Germany, Jabong.com in India,
Lamoda.ru in Russia, ZALORA in South East Asia, The Iconic and Zanui in Australia, the global
food delivery platform foodpanda/hellofood, the global property listings site Lamudi, Carmudi,
etc. Rocket Internet’s various companies created more than 20.000 jobs worldwide. Previous
ventures include, for example, Citydeal, which was purchased by Groupon for US$126M, which
profited by US$90M.

Figure 3: Successful Business Models of Rocket Internet around the World

Rocket Internet launched 5 companies in Bangladesh last year- Daraz, Carmudi, Lamudi,
Foodpanda and Kaymu. And there are more to come. Kaymu as mentioned before replicates the
8
eBay model in emerging markets and since Bangladesh is an emerging market where eBay has
not been introduced yet, Kaymu decided to come in!

As for, Kaymu Bangladesh Ltd, it started its journey in Bangladesh around October 2013
launching on November 2013. Kaymu is the leading online marketplace for emerging markets. It
sells everything from books, to mobiles & tablets, fashion wear and accessories, electronics,
jewelry, home and living products, kid products and many more. It is the one stop solution for
customers to find their products online. It is the fastest growing online shopping platform in the
emerging markets, with over million customers. Kaymu operates an online marketplace enabling
end customers to buy and sell basically anything online.

How Kaymu Functions

Kaymu is, first and foremost, an online marketplace. One can browse through numerous
categories like Clothing, Footwear, Jewelry, Watches, Mobiles & Accessories, Jewelry, Books &
Media, Electronics, Footwear, Watches, Mobiles, Computers, Electronics, Home & Living,
Health & Beauty, Toys, Kids & Babies, Books & Media, Sports & Outdoors and various other
categories. When a customer sees something they like, they click on the product and view the
details that include pictures, descriptions, payment options and shipping information.

So when a customer sees what s/he likes, they place an online order, they buy it, pay for it and
wait for it to arrive at their doors. If they reside in Dhaka, they usually get home deliveries and
many sellers provide cash on delivery even outside Dhaka (meaning customers can pay after
receiving the product).

Customers can pay for an item on Kaymu using a variety of methods, including cash on delivery
(this is available only in few cities at the seller's discretion), bank deposit, bKash or other mobile
banking methods, etc.

Just as one can buy almost anything on Kaymu Bangladesh Limited, one can sell almost
anything, too. Using a simple listing process, one can put all of the junk in their basement up for
sale. People can sell old laptops, clothing, furniture, etc. But if one wants to sell as a business,
9
they need to enlist in Kaymu as a Kaymu seller via which they get a Kaymu e-store. When one
sells an item on Kaymu, they pay a certain percentage of the final sale price to Kaymu. There is
no listing fee except this commission on sales and for people selling personal products, there is
no commission either.

To purchase something, one must have an account in Kaymu. He/ She simply need to register by
providing some basic information (name, address, birth date, phone number etc.). With that
account they can place orders on Kaymu. After placing a purchase order, a text message/email is
sent with a code to validate the purchase. If the buyer validates it, the seller can see it when they
log in to their account and then the seller is responsible for calling up the buyer, confirming the
order, answering to any necessary queries, and deliver the product. Often, pre-payment is
necessary and then the delivery time becomes higher as the seller would not dispatch the product
without the buyer paying first. Most sellers provide cash on delivery to buyers residing in Dhaka,
meaning the buyers can pay after the product reaches their home. Some sellers provide cash on
delivery facility outside Dhaka as well, but not most sellers. Therefore, most customers outside
Dhaka need to prepay via bank account or mobile banking.

On the other hand, to sell through Kaymu, one needs to have an account as well. Once an order is
placed it is showed in the account where details of the buyer is given with the product details (the
one that the buyer chose). The seller contacts the buyer, confirms the order, answer queries of the
buyer (if any) and deliver the product. The seller pays Kaymu a percentage commission on the
final sale amount. The commission payment is made once a month. The advantages sellers get
are the fact that the products stay with them so they are not stuck with stock that hasn't sold.
Also, they get free marketing via Kaymu. To get started with Kaymu as a seller, one needs to
sign a simple contract paper that enlists them as a Kaymu seller.

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 Figure 4: Organogram of Kaymu

Part B: The Internship Project

As an intern, I was assign in Finance department of ‘Kaymu’. According to my supervisor, my
assigned task was to,
 Calculate Commission bill
 Sending all Commission bills
 Collect Commission
 Correcting commission
 Make payments to the seller
 Maintaining Fixed Asset Register

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During the internship period, I have learnt a lot about work life in practical, which was not
possible to picture while taking classes only. However, this internship opportunity gave me a
chance to learn different skills along with discovering skills, which I did not experienced before.
I could compare and contrast between my academic and work-life learning. I have observed and
find out some issues regarding the commission billing and payment to seller’s procedure using
customized financial methods and record keeping.

Communication, interpersonal communication skill, conflict management are considered as

people skill. Also, cash control, proper calculation and following convenient way for doing
things are regarded as financial and analytical skills. Here I got a great scope of learning and
practicing these skills through written communication with the local as well as corporate clients
and interdepartmental colleagues. Punctuality was highly expected here. All of my colleagues in
my department practiced punctuality and encouraged each other in doing so as well. I learned a
great deal of being punctual and managing time. While maintaining inter-departmental
communication, I learned to maintain professionalism in terms of communicating. In addition, I
learned how to act professional through work, attitude, dress up etc.

While working I made a lot of contribution to my various departments work. I took part in
finance departments with several important issues such as managing cash and payment related
issues of the sellers and commission bills. Besides that, I have also gained some experience on
taking participation in offline activation. My administrator assigned every head of the
departments to share their work responsibility and experience with me, so that, besides learning
of something new I can contribute them whenever they need help. I have created several process
mapping in order to revise them and establish error free process. Some of my works are
displayed here:

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 Figure 5 Commission Billing Process

According to this process mapping the whole commission billing process is heavily dependent
on the information we get from the BOB and the commission info we have. So we need to ensure
correct data extraction from these files. Also the process should use less amount of time for
convenience, so the process should be more simplified. I talked about this with my supervisor
and the heads of sellers and sales. We all agreed that we should put more focus on collecting
commission bills regularly and to do that we need to make this whole procedure more effective
and user friendly.

13
 Figure 6 Payments to the Sellers

So according to this process mapping, we are dependent on logistics and delivery both
department regarding the payment confirmation. Once we get the confirmation we disburse all
payment requests. But due to several late payment issues, the effectiveness of the logistics was
doubted and we decided that the advance payment should be stopped; we should take the matter
into our hands and get the confirmation of payment by ourselves. We went into several
agreements with the delivery company and revised our payment process.

14
Figure 7 Procurement Process

15
This was fairly a new initiative taken by the Deputy Country Manager and the Head of Finance
to ensure proper procurement process. Head of Finance prepared the policies. And I developed
the process mapping according to his guidelines.

Figure 8 HR Database Form

16
I also developed a database program for the HR department to maintain employee data. I used
necessary formulas to keep everything HR department needs to have in this database.

I also worked with PR department in my last days as intern. I helped them to organize the event
Pahela Boishakh. I also provided support to launch the company’s first offline activation
program. During my student life I was engaged into club affairs and learned a lot about
organizing different types of events. This experience helped me a lot while serving the PR
department.

I acquired the services to generate commission bills quickly and dispersing them in bulk amount.
I started using Zoho Invoice for the purpose and it helped a lot the company for the billing
purpose.

Figure 9 Zoho Summary of Commission Bills

This app provided us the insights of the commission bill such as, how much the sellers owe us,
how much we have already received and how much are yet to be received as per month basis as
well as total basis.

17
 Figure 10 Zoho - Individual Commission Bills

This the view of the current individual commission bill sent to each seller. The format and the
content was selected and designed by me.

Figure 11 Usage of SMS Gateway Service

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I also introduced sms gateway service for the notification purpose in finance department. It is
very helpful to the department to inform the sellers about our activities.

The lessons I learned here during my internship was almost exactly, what was share by few
faculties in class. This is because theories often do not match with practicalities. Additionally, we
taught books written in the context of US market but the scenario in Bangladesh is different.
However, according to my findings what we were taught in the class and the practices that I
found at work was neither was exactly the same nor contradictory. Similarities and dissimilarities
both were observed.

Compare and Contrast in learning’s at Internship and classes:

The core courses of Managements for example MGT321 organization behavior helped me to
maintain the corporate culture in my work place. Apart from that, the management works and
processes are quite similar to what we taught in the class. Though our company follows semi-
formal attire policy, but it still taught me about corporate punctuality and communication

However, in the course Business Ethics (BUS401), we were taught about ethical practices of
businesses towards the customers, different other stakes including employees as well; in reality
even though the company does business ethically and always behave ethically to the customer as
well as the society but I found a bit ignorance while practicing the same towards the employees.
Although, this cannot blame on the management of the company because, the scope of employee
benefit and awareness are there but the employees are less likely to claim that.

In the basic Accounting course and Finance major courses like FIN 340, FIN 440, ACT 201,
ACT 202, we learned that cash control, proper and timely disbursements, maintaining proper
financial records, and reconciliation to adjustment is quite essential from the financial
perspective of any corporation. A company should be always aware of their cash control and
proper record keeping. Besides that, a company must work towards better financial position.

I have noticed that Kaymu is quite aware about that and they are upgrading their monetary and
financial policies to attain a better position. The finance department of the company is always
observed closely by the central committee. With justified cause the disbursement of cash and
strict collection policy Kaymu Bangladesh Ltd. is trying to make stable position in terms of
19
financial aspect. I think this made them growing so rapidly and sustain with heavy competition in
online shopping industry.

Part C: Observations Made

In this segment of my report, I will reflect my assessment on the various relevant points that I
went through during my internship at Kaymu Bangladesh.

The corporate culture of Kaymu Bangladesh can be compared with any Multinational
corporations. It is certain that a workplace have people from different cultural back ground as
well as co-workers from different countries within it. It was not the exception while I was
working in Kaymu Bangladesh branch. Mixing with the culture of the organization and coping
up with the people from different background really equipped me with knowledge of work place
diversity. Also there are lots of things to learn from people with different cultural background.

The working environment of Kaymu is very safe and work friendly and enjoyable. The company
incorporates open office policy. So the employee can co-ordinate with each other more
frequently and effectively.

Because of the nature of job Finance, always need to connect with all other service department.
But the most close work relation is maintained with accounts.

The coworkers of my office were very friendly and helpful. As an intern they never neglected me
and they were always eager towards making me educated of the work process. I will be thankful
Mr. Syed Salman Ali for helping and guiding me during my Internship period.

My supervisor, Mr. Syed Salman Ali, was like a mentor. He had many responsibilities apart from
supervising me, but, yet he welcomed an intern like me in the team where there were so many
things to be taken care of. He was friendly and with good leadership skills, always motivated me.
He always tried to make me clear about the task given to me. He was patient and a skilled tutor.
My interaction with him was not boss-subordinate type rather brotherly colleague type.

20
The type of work that I was assigned to do was totally depends on analytical ability and sincerity.
Where, I just needed quality full and active sellers. . The quality of work was assured by the
portfolio managers and captain of the sales team.

This internship was an experience towards real work life. It can be considered as the first step
towards actual working life. However, this opportunity has influenced my career planning in
terms of below aspects

Motivational factors

Although it was a little amount paid internship but I got opportunity to learn was a huge
motivational factor. It motivated me towards taking real full-time job and made me confident
enough to take challenges of a real job. It also made me responsible. It made me responsible
while making decision, its effects and outcomes in way that made me think like a sensible
employee. Above that, the offer letter for the job made me more confident and made another
opportunity for me to start a new journey for my job career. Also I received the intern of the
month award on April 2015. That appreciation boosted up my will and motivated me to work
hard too.

Conclusion
In review this internship has been an excellent and exciting experience. I have been able to meet
and communicate with so many people that I am sure will be able to help me with opportunities
in the future.
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One main thing that I have learned through this internship is time management skills as well as
self-motivation. When I first started I did not think that I was going to be able to make myself sit
in an office for nine hours a day, five days a week. Once I realized what I had to do I organized
my day and work so that I was not overlapping or wasting my hours. I learned that I needed to
be organized and have questions ready for when it was the correct time to get feedback. From
this internship and time management I had to learn how to motivate myself through being in the
office for so many hours. I came up with various proposals and ideas that the company is still
looking into using.

At this point of time it is not only Kaymu who is tapping into the market. A lot of other e-
commerce businesses are as well. So in the future, we hope to see better growth of the e-
commerce sector with better infra-structure and other businesses catering to this sector.

I am going to continue to work for Kaymu Bangladesh Limited as Finance Executive although I
am still keeping my options open for new opportunities. I enjoy this line of work, but I am not
sure if there is enough room to grow through this company. I will continue to work hard in my
position and hope to continue to learn about the industry and meet new people. This was an
excellent experience and I hope that other interns got as much out of it as I did.

22
Appendix

23
Weekly Journals
Weekly Journal 01: 26th January – 29th January
Overall Work Done in the Week:
The week started with the training of the job I am responsible of. Salman Vai took me in and
showed me a couple of files. The files were the commission bill for December, 2014. He asked
me to go through them and try to understand the process of calculating commission bill. With the
help of Salman Vai, I went through some practice material and tried to understand the procedure.
As this was the first week of my internship period, my supervisor didn’t give me any specific
task, rather he asked me to keep an eye out and learn by watching. I went through the files and
understood the process theoretically. Then Salman Vai gave me some files to calculate
commissions. I used some excel formula to generate commission rates and calculate the
commission for the month January. Salman Vai closely watched my works. He helped me
whenever I asked for help. Then I prepared a summary for Salman Vai.

Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:

This week I learned to use different types of formula used in MS Excel. I got to learn how to use
Pivot Table, VLOOKUP, Filters, Sorting, INDEX, Group, Subtotal etc. formulas. Also for
completing the practice material so quickly Salman Vai appreciated my work.

Overall Observation made this Week:

In Kaymu Bangladesh Ltd we use two individual files containing seller info from where we
extract commission rates for each seller. The formula VLOOKUP needs to select a cell exactly
similar to the data mentioned in the reference table. As a result though the data is available in the
reference table, but many of the results were showing N/A. This happened because the selected
seller names we got from the system and selected seller name in the reference table were
different. Maybe a simple spelling error, maybe the name changed a bit. As a result, using the
formula was a little help for us. Eventually we had to search manually and assign commission
rates for the sellers.
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Weekly Journal 02: 01st February – 05th February
Overall Work Done in the Week:
This week Salman Vai asked me to prepare the summary of the commission bill from October,
2014 to January, 2015. I was also asked to make several queries to determine the most frequent
sellers and how many items they sold per month, which are the next potential key sellers etc. I
arranged them into a monthly basis worksheet. Then Salman Vai said that sellers tend to make
payment late and also many sellers will pay only a portion of the total commission due. So we
need to keep a good track of commission received and commission charged on each month on
the basis of each individual seller. I arranged the total summary according to his instruction. I
also got a laptop, a cell phone, a desk and a company email ID to carry out my responsibilities. I
prepared and sent the entire individual commission bills. And soon after that I started to receive
several adjustments from the sellers. I talked with Salman Vai and he asked me to verify the
adjustment request. I verified it with the customer service and seller management team and
adjusted accordingly. I also called them to notify about their due bills. The last day of the week
was somewhat pressure less because it was the day the employees are appreciated for their hard
work. The event is held in every two months.

Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:

As I was working with Salman Vai for the summary of the commission bills, he taught me a few
statistical and financial formulas using MS Excel to have a clear view of the commission bill
scenario from different aspect. This way I learned to calculate the sum of each months
commission bills, the sum of the total commission bills due for each seller, maximum order
closed by the sellers, count of total items sold and closed in a month. I was also able to generate
a trend line of the commission bill over the months and with this we will be able to forecast the
upcoming month’s sales, commission bills etc. It will be also helpful for the company to
determine which sellers are paying commission bills, which are not. Sometimes the delivery
charges are mistakenly included in the product, as a result the total commission bill of the month
changes several times after reporting. Also I happen to notice that the seller’s names are not
always same as they are in my reference worksheet. So, the company needs to start calculating
the bills on basis of some unique feature of the seller, than using the seller names.

25
Overall Observation made this Week:
I was astonished to see that most of the sellers are not willing to pay commission bills. They
always try to avoid the bills. And as a startup company Kaymu Bangladesh is not paying much
emphasis on the commission yet because the prime objective of the company is now to gather
and maintain quality sellers. The seller list is getting larger day by day. The verification process
is done by one order at a time. We really need to ensure that the delivery charges are deducted
from the grand total of each order so that the seller’s complaint decreases over time.

Weekly Journal 03: 08th February – 12th February

Overall Work Done in the Week:
There is a time lapse between the customers gets the product and sends back the money. But the
sellers want the money immediately. So in order to keep our sellers happy we provide advance
payment against the order numbers. This week Salman Vai explained to me the whole process
and asked me a few question. When he was ensured that I understood the process clearly he gave
me the list of the sellers who were about to get paid this week. I took the list. I derived each
seller’s cell number, their preferred payment method and called them to inform them about their
payment. They provided me their Bkash number and bank account number. I made a summary
and disbursed all of the payments. For the ease of sellers we also provided direct cash payment.
After the payments are done I called them all and informed them that their money had been sent.
I also got the permission use the company’s Bkash account to record and commission bills. I
checked the Bkash cluster and recorded the commission payments. Then I made a report and sent
it to Salman Vai.

Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:

I got to know that the sellers are not always giving the exact amount of commission bills which
they owed us. As a result they might make underpayment. Using Data consolidation service
along with company’s internal accounting software I recorded the payments and calculated net
payables of receivables of the company from the seller.

Overall Observation made this Week:

26
As we have three different methods of disbursing the advance payment made to the sellers it’s
sometimes difficult to make payments and make adjustments. So I talked about this with my
superior and we agreed that we should move to use one payment mode only. Though we could
not figure out which mode or when should we start using this only mode.

Weekly Journal 04: 15th February – 19th February

Overall Work Done in the Week:
This week, once again I received the seller list for advance payment. I called the sellers and
confirmed their mode of payment. I could not reach everyone though, so I kept a reminder in
Google calendar for following up later. Then Salman Vai sent me the Fixed Asset Register file
and I was supposed to record the new acquired assets and as well to calculate their depreciation.
Salman Vai needs the depreciation of the four category assets per month, the accumulated
depreciation and the total cost of acquiring all the assets for preparing balance sheet and income
statement. I calculated them very carefully and made a report. Then I submitted it to Salman Vai.
Previously the company only included any asset costing more than Tk. 10,000. But recently there
were some significant assets acquired that are pretty important for official work and also these
assets needs proper recording. Such as cell phone, phablet, router, some spring chairs, tables etc.
So the policy changed and we include almost every acquired asset into fixed asset register
according to the FAR guideline. Also, while recording the cell phone and other electronic device
used in different departments, I needed the serial number or any other unique identification
number. So I created a Google sheet and shared it with everyone. Then I sent a mail to each Head
of the departments requesting to fill up the Google sheet I shared. Sarmiz Apu, the Head of
Human Resource, requested for my assistance. She asked me to prepare an organogram of the
company. The company is getting larger and every now and then new employees are joining us. I
used MS Visio to prepare the organogram and it was looking illustrated yet simple. She thanked
me for helping her out and gave me a lunch treat.

Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:

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I noticed that many of the fixed asset data is using value freeze formula. It might happen in the
near future; someone else using this register might just use it ignorantly and calculate
depreciation info wrong. So I decided to redesign the whole Fixed Asset Register and make
proper calculation. I also gave pop up comments to each significant cell, so that someone totally
unaware of the formula used in this register can use it easily. For my dedication and also fast
deliver of the work, Salman Vai took me to the Country Manager Jared Hirsch and praised of my
work. I really felt honored and boosted up for the work.

Overall Observation made this Week:

The Fixed Asset registration made previously was good, but not for long term usage and also if
the number of fixed assets increase over time then the file will become obsolete. So I talked with
Salman Vai for redesigning the FAR and then I changed the format and formulas which was used
previously.

Weekly Journal 05: 22nd February – 26th March

Overall Work Done in the Week:
I received the sellers list again the beginning of the week. I called the sellers and confirmed their
mode of payment. Some of the sellers asked me to hold their payment until it becomes a
handsome amount. Some of the sellers complained that they have sold a number of products and
receiving only a few ones payments. They wanted to know where the other payments. I notified
the logistics team about this. As a result this week, the amount of adjustment was really high. I
made some mistakes regarding calculation of the total disbursement of payments. Also Salman
Vai scolded me for receiving the so many adjustments. With the high number of adjustments
coming it was getting late for the disbursement. But our country manager has made it very clear
to make payments every Monday. Also the sellers were told that we make payments only in
Monday. I also made a reconciliation report to logistics and finance department heads. As I was
the only intern in finance department I had to make bank deposits too. I also made some changes
in the organogram Sarmiz Apu asked me to do last week. I went to City Bank, Moghbazar branch
to submit the FDI papers of the company on Thursday.

Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:

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After being scolded and making mistake in my calculation, I realized that we should not receive
infinite number of adjustment even if logistics department wants us to. I learned it in the hard
way.

Overall Observation made this Week:

After receiving so many adjustments, one thing was clear that the delivery department our
logistics work with is pretty inefficient. Otherwise, there would not be this many adjustment in
48 hours. Also they have not been able to answer where the other payments of the sellers were. I
also realized that in the near future, we are going to have a lot of problem with bank deposits as
the number of the request for bank deposits were increasing. I deposited payments of the sellers
in five different banks in 3 different places alone in this week.

Weekly Journal 06: 01st March – 05th March

Overall Work Done in the Week:
This week Salman Vai and I had a discussion over the effectiveness of the commission billing
process. We both agreed that there were lot of problems in the existing system. Then he asked me
to create a process mapping of the commission billing procedure. I used MS Visio and Adobe
Illustrator software which I learnt earlier in my university life. I made a detailed process mapping
and sent it to Salman Vai. He checked it and sent it to the country manager and the head of key
accounts. They will look into it and will try to reduce as many problems as possible. Besides that
as part of my routine work, I received the seller list of the week. I made the summary, called the
sellers, ensured their payment method and carried out the transactions. Then I sat with Vaibhav
Krishna, Head of Key Accounts Manager.

We talked about the commission billing process and tried find out the problems in the process.
Then Krishna asked the Head of Sales, Junayed Mustafa Vai to compile all the sellers together
again in a single file. And we also agreed that a process or formula should be built up for the
calculation of commission bills. The mailing system should be automated too. And the sellers
should be notified about the mail sent to them via an automated sms. I also started to prepare
February 2015 commission billing. We asked for proper delivery charges for each order and
Krishna provided me with the data. Then I went for the calculation and I was done with it by the
second last day of the week. I also made a summary of depreciation information needed by
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Salman Vai for the preparation of the monthly financial report to the central committee. I did
make reconciliation with the petty cash info from accounts department and the fixed asset info
with Salman Vai.

Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:

During this week, I sat with Krishna and we both agreed that the present process should be
upgraded for commission billing. I learnt a lot of new things from Krishna. For taking an
initiative to make an easy, less time consuming and convenient system for commission billing
process, I received bonus and it will be realized on next salary payment.

Overall Observation made this Week:

While preparing the process map I realized that calculating on the basis of seller name was a
wrong choice. We should have used a unique seller id which would have given us more accurate
answer. Also at the beginning stage of our company’s operation we had mass acquisition. All of
these acquired sellers were maintained in two different files. As a result, proper calculation was
not always possible. We needed to reduce our reference files into one file. We asked the head of
sales to make a single reference file for preparing commission file. Also a lot of sellers are not
being billed but their probation period was over long ago. So, Krishna asked all of the seller
managers to bring all the eligible sellers under the commission agreement.

Weekly Journal 07: 08th March – 12th March

Overall Work Done in the Week:
As usual, I sent the payments to seller for this week. And I prepared the file for transaction. Then
I started to look for a reliable sms gateway provider. I talked with several of the representatives.
One of them provided me with demo sms gateway service. Then I talked with our Head of
Customer Service, Musnad Vai. He suggested me to take one of his know sms gateway provider.
We took his service and realized that all of the carriers are receiving the message except the
Grameen Phone and Banglalink carriers. I talked with the technician of the provider. We both
tried a lot and still could not find any solution to this problem. Our CS department uses same
provider for their own sms gateway. But they are not facing any kind of problem with their
service. Also, I heard that there is an issue with the sms gateway in case of GP number. But, the

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problem persists with Banglalink too. I was also looking for a bulk email service and an invoice
generator. So I didn’t put much emphasis on the sms gateway problem. But I asked the
technician to contact me as soon as he finds any solution to this problem. I needed the bulk email
service with customized name and address and also the attachment facility. I searched the
YouTube for the tutorial to use Gmail contacts and Gmail for the purpose. I looked into the usage
of MS word and MS outlook. I tried mail chimp. But none of them provided the complete
solution to my problem. So I decided to go on with the previous lengthy process. It is
monotonous and time consuming, but I guess, it’s the only option I had back then.

Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:

This week I learned how to use gateway service to mask and send bulk sms to a lot of people
together. It was fun.

Overall Observation made this Week:

I realized that I needed a complete invoicing service and bulk email sending system. And for that
we need a professional service. Also, I felt that we need an IT expert in our company for this
kind of technical solution. There are numerous technical issues bugs us regularly which needs an
expert and close maintenance.

Weekly Journal 8: 15th March – 19th March

Overall Work Done in the Week:
Again I started with the payment disbursement for the sellers. Then I spent time searching the
convenient software to generate bulk invoice and send them automatically to all sellers. While
checking out the tutorials for different software I found out that QuickBooks pro and Zoho
invoice is capable of satisfying our needs. Then I registered with those software and started trial
version of them. After exploring a while I realized that Zoho Invoice is good enough to meet my
needs. I started to run some tests. I created a test database and made some test entry. Then when I
sent those invoice to the test mail accounts. And the test was successful with several tries. I
reported to Krishna and Salman Vai about this software. They wanted to have a look at the
software themselves. So they took the password and ran some tests by themselves. They asked
me wait for a week, so that they could clearly know about this software and let the central

31
committee know about the usage of this software. They permitted us to use the new software
and I started making new commission bills. I prepared new commission bills and sent them to all
sellers.

Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:

I figured out that in order to use Zoho Invoice for the organizational purpose I need to change the
format of the input file a little bit. After a while exploring with the format, I finally got a hold
into things. I finalized a new format that will help us to use Zoho Invoice.

Overall Observation made this Week:

I realized all the pro features we need for corporate purpose is available. But it requires having a
pro account for every instance. But among all of those options I found Zoho to be the most users
friendly. Besides that Zoho CRM is already being used by our sales team. So it will be helpful
for the finance team to integrate with the CRM software and get the seller info conveniently.

Weekly Journal 9: 22nd March – 26th March

I have nothing to tell about this week. I was sick and I took a leave of one week.

Weekly Journal 10: 29th March – 02nd April

Overall Work Done in the Week:
I returned to my office after being sick. Krishna and I had a short discussion about the new
invoice system and I started to generate new invoices for the month March, 2015. I also helped
the Head of HR to build up a database system using MS access. I created the form for entry and
linked it to an employee table. I developed some formula to generate salary and consider leave
deduction into that database for each employee. And I showed it to Sarmiz Apu. She was really
glad and asked me to incorporated several more things into that database. I revised the database
and sent it to her. Then she asked for some help with the excel sheet she maintains for keeping
records of leave requests and calculate salary deduction for unpaid leave. I also developed an
organogram for her and she asked me to revise that too as the company was expanding with
changed employee status and order. Also I helped Hasan Vai to reconcile petty cash record
structure.

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Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:
I got to learn that in a growing company like Kaymu Bangladesh Ltd, the organogram is
constantly changing. So the organogram needs revision very frequently. Also the I learned that
each employee of the company gets 5 casual leave, 20 annual leave and 14 medical leave each
year. Also the employees are benefited with two Eid bonuses.

Overall Observation made this Week:

Kaymu Bangladesh provides their employee with a liberal corporate culture. The employees can
follow semi-formal attire policy. The office environment is quite friendly. Our company is
controlled by the French Kaymu.com. The company policies are changing and we are changing
our internal policies recently.

Weekly Journal 11: 05th April – 09th April

Overall Work Done in the Week:
Again I engaged myself with the routine work of preparing the weekly seller payment. But this
time we had some changes. Previously the logistics of Kaymu Bangladesh Ltd. provided us with
the list. But with so many problems regarding the late payment to sellers the logistics department
is closed down. And the finance department gets the responsibility to make payments to the
sellers. We had some conversation with the AIGX the delivery system we use. And we decided
that each week on Sunday they will give us a list for payment and provide us with a check of the
total payment amount. And we also decided that we will not make any advance payment
anymore and discard direct cash payment from now on. Then I started to reconcile the payment
list with all the payments and all the receipts. I realized that we have disbursed a lot of advance
payment to the sellers and we didn’t get paid against those disbursements. I reported to Salman
Vai about this. He asked me to prepare a new file where we can get a clear picture of the total
payment scenario at a glance. We realized there are lots of sellers, which are not getting paid
timely. On the other hand there are some sellers who are getting paid more than deserved. The
whole thing is messed up and we need to take serious steps to resolve this problem immediately.

Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:

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I learnt that many of the sellers payment is still stuck with the AIGX the delivery system. The
perception about our company’s reliability to the sellers is getting damaged over time.

Overall Observation made this Week:

We need to take serious steps for ensuring the proper and timely payment of the seller payment.
We need to do this to keep our image positive and avoid future problems. Plus we need a
dedicated person to keep a liaison with AIGX and report to us regularly. He/she will work
towards the better coordination of work of the delivery system and help us the get delivery info
as needed.

Weekly Journal 12: 12th April – 16th April

Overall Work Done in the Week:
This week our Head of Public Relation, Umaila Yakub asked for my help regarding the event of
“Pahela Boishakh” on 14th April. We talked and decided on how we should organize the event.
As I was an active member and treasurer of a student club back in my university life, I knew
exactly how to organize a cultural event. I made some calls to my old vendors for sound and
lighting setup. I also provided them with the printing support. As I have a personal business of
printing business, I took the responsibility to provide the printing of the backdrop and making of
the gift box for the sellers. The quality of the printing was superb and the event went smoothly,
so everybody was happy. Krishna and Georg thanked for my support.

Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:

I learned a lot while working with Umaila Apu. I learned how much it it’s important to keep a
good connection with the media. The company still follows the online publicity for their PR
activities and spends a lot of money for online publicity. Recently the company started to take
consideration to go for offline publicity.

Overall Observation made this Week:

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The decision making process is still somewhat slow. As we got all the decisions at the very last
moment, it was pretty tough for me put everything together. But still I managed.

Weekly Journal 13: 19th April – 23rd April

Overall Work Done in the Week:
Everybody was still in a joyous mood from the last week’s event of Pahela Boishakh. The week
started with a slow start. I received the file for payment to the sellers and dispersed all the
payments. Then i created a Google sheet with last three months commission bill info. I shared it
with the entire seller manager so that they would have a clear picture of the current situation of
the commission bill. They were requested to call all the sellers and ask them to pay the
commission bills as soon as possible. I was keeping a close watch on the bkash cluster to keep
track of the commission bills. I was also updating the Zoho invoice with all the updates. On the
other hand, I reported daily to Salman Vai and Krishna about the improvement of the
commission bills. I also sent sms to the sellers whenever we received any payment with the
confirmation. Also there was a plan to make Tamim Iqbal our brand ambassador. We went into
an agreement with him to represent the company and use its logo in the Bangladesh- Pakistan
series. My own company Print4you provided with all the printing support such as Banners and
backdrop. Also there was a plan to hold an offline activation event in front of Mirpur stadium.
All was set, and I was tasked with the setup of the venue. I provided with the banners, photo
frame and all the stickers. Even Tamim Iqbal used those stickers in every match against Pakistan.
I helped to install the venue setup and then helped to proper disbursement of refreshment gift to
the visitors of the Kaymu stall. I was also asked to stay with Kaymu as financial executive this
week. Salman Vai asked about my opinion. I took some time and after consulting with my family
I agreed to the offer.

Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:

I found out that the Zoho Invoice is amazing software to keep record of dues and receipt of
those dues. Also, Krishna asked me to develop procurement process flowchart according to the
new policy. I received the intern of the month award from the leaving Country Manager Jared
Hirsch. I felt proud to receive the award for my hard work during the month.

Overall Observation made this Week:

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I realized that Kaymu Bangladesh is finally going to start offline publicity and more events and
partnership programs are yet to come. As an experienced event organizer, my responsibilities
will increase. And also after joining as financial executive my job responsibilities will expand.

Weekly Journal 14: 26th April

Overall Work Done in the Week:
This was the last day of my intern life in Kaymu Bangladesh Ltd. I will join as financial
executive on 4th of April. So, obviously I was trying to cover everything from my end to help
Salman Vai during my absence. I prepared the seller list and sent it for disbursements. I also
prepared a commission summary of last few months and a file with projected commission bills
for next three months. I signed the job offer letter today. The overall intern period was a
wonderful experience.

Overall Learning/Achievement this Week:

The overall appreciation received from the Head of HR Sarmiz Apu, Head of PR Umaila Apu,
previous Country Manager Jared Hirsch, new Country Manager Hendrik Chassee, Head of
Partnership Georg Wolff, Head of Key Sellers Vaibhav Krishna and my boss Head of Finance
Syed Salman Ali boosted my motivation for work. Their help and motivation helped me to walk
this corporate life as a beginner.

Overall Observation made this Week:

Kaymu Bangladesh Ltd. is still changing their policies regarding different issues. They hired a
lot of employees. The hiring policies are also changing. I was offered as the first finance
employee under the supervision of Salman Vai. The department is still growing and needs the
hard work to establish proper financial policies and control the cash disbursement. I have made
several propositions to Salman Vai regarding our future endeavor. He listened to me carefully
and said that he will look into these suggestions sincerely.

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