Bryson Soviero

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Class of 2023

Interned With A Business In The Developing World

Consulted With CEOs And Marketing Experts To Develop Viable Solutions For A Business In Bauchi State, Nigeria

Received A Grant From Leaders At Exxon, The United Nations, And The Nigerian Embassy To Implement Solutions For My Business Partner

Consulted With A Business

In The Developing World

Our team reviewed the economic, social, political, and environmental factors that impact our partner’s business to identify the gaps and discrepancies between the current condition and our partner’s desired conditions.

Collaborated With Business

Development Experts

After researching solution ideas, our team worked with the Nigerian development staff to synthesize an effective solution to the problems our business partner was facing.

In order to fund the proposed solution, our team composed a detailed grant proposal to request funding from the Leadership Initiatives Grant Committee.

Earned A Development

Grant To Enact Solutions

My Business Consultant Training

Needs Assessment

1. Calculating Repair Proposals

To develop a payment tracking system, we had Adewale begin calculating each repair cost and track the parts (with costs) associated with each repair.

With the base cost of each repair calculated, Adewale could create a base repair cost to customers and adjust his prices to ensure he profited from each repair.

2. Branding

First we created a unique logo for Adewale displayed on the right.

After the logo, we worked to bring attention to the auto-repair shop through social media and local brand awareness.

This was accomplished through stickers for the bumpers of cars and creating Adewale his own Facebook Page.

Our Solution Proposal

Grant Application

Autobody Repair Business Statistics

As a child, Adewale Adeniji began working as an apprentice to his older brother at an auto body repair shop in 2001. Adewale trained for three years before moving to a more advanced auto body repair shop to further develop his skills.

In 2010, Adewale used his knowledge and skills to open up his own auto body shop in Bauchi, Nigeria.

Adewale has created three jobs for his wider community and hopes to expand his business to employ more.

By providing auto body repair services, he is working to develop his community further, make the roads safe, and modernize transportation in his area.

Adewale is also partnering with students from Leadership Initiatives' International Business Internship Program. These students are helping him develop better business and repair techniques.

Story Of The Business

Adewale has 4 siblings, and his parents passed away four years ago. He is now the adoptive father of his younger brother, who is in Junior Secondary School. He is married and has a three-year-old daughter.

The auto repair shop is a way of providing for his immediate family and siblings. He hopes to continue to grow his shop so we can send his daughter and brother to college one day.

About The Business Owner

Adewale is hoping to one day expand his business to multiple areas of Bauchi and provide apprentice training programs so other young men and women can provide for their families, as Adewale provides for his.

He hopes to pioneer these methods to lower car repair costs in his community and eventually use his new resources to take in orphans who are facing starvation.

Rapid innovation in auto technology has meant that even experienced auto repair workers have to regularly brush up on their skills.

Without the fundamentals of a vehicle’s engine operation and how to repair it, shop owners in Bauchi will not be able to keep up with the demand to fix new vehicles on the road.

The inability to repair cars is a growing problem within Adewale's community.

Adewale is one of the few members of his community who is able to use essential computer programs to maintain and repair vehicles - from mechanical and electrical work, re-sprays, bodywork, and tire fitting to getting stranded motorists back on the road again.

Community Impact

Because of Adewale many community members have a reliable place for automotive repairs.

Problems Facing The Business

1. Calculating Repair Proposals

Adewale needs to create a tracking system for auto repairs and utilize that information to create a cost-proposal sheet for customers so they can better understand the itemized bill.

Creating a solution to this problem will allow his customers to confirm they can afford the repairs, he is proposing and allow Adewale to create payment plans to returning customers.

2. Branding

Auto-Repairs shops are dependent on their brand to create word of mouth customers.

Most shops lack a webpage, a colored logo, a social media page and a Facebook page for community members to leave reviews.

Our goal is to put all of these social media tools in place in place to showcase his business in the community.

Meeting Our Business Partner

Our team began the solution-development process by having a one-on-one Skype calls directly with our business partner.

We learned more about his life, family, and business—as well as the issues he was having.

By discussing first-hand the problems our partner faced, our team successfully and efficiently began to brainstorm solutions to improve his business.

The on-staff translators and business development experts helped facilitate the process and ensured our team asked the right questions.

Each morning we held frank discussions about our solutions, the advice we had received during the day before, and the timeline to begin implementing our ideas in real-time.

Expert Assistance Workshop

Our team then met with leading experts in the field of business and community development, from top US companies, the State Department, the Pentagon and leading Georgetown Professors.

These leaders included Professor Sarah Stiles of Georgetown University, who has received Georgetown's highest faculty honor, the Edward B. Bunn award, in 2014 and 2019, making her the only woman in Georgetown History to receive the award twice.

We streamlined our initial solutions and used their guidance to further our efforts in solving the issues our business partner was facing.

Our team advanced our communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills through hands-on project management and development.

By the end of the week, we had synthesized the advice of leading experts from across the globe for our grant proposal to transform the life of our business partner.

Nigerian Embassy Business Consultation

The Nigerian Embassy invited our team for an exclusive tour, a presentation on Nigerian economic development, and a banquet with top diplomats.

We ate authentic Nigerian cuisine, immersed ourselves in the culture, and discussed problems facing our business partner, the community he worked in and the country as a whole.

At the end of the trip to the Nigerian Embassy, our team was able to work directly with Nigerian development experts, including a former ambassador to the United Nations.

Each expert gave new insights to our proposed solution and was able to provide us specific details to help shape our grant proposal to ensure the grant transforms lives.

Partnership With Top Executives and CEOs

Throughout the course of the program, our team met with top CEO's from across the nation. They reviewed our solutions, offered advice on our grant proposal, and briefed us on the upcoming presentation.

This consultation gave our team the confidence and acumen to develop practical solutions and present them to the grant panel for our business partner.

John Hecklinger was one of the mentors we had the opportunity to work with. As the Executive Director of the Global Fund For Children, John had a unique insight into the grant proposal process.

John taught us how to present ideas to leaders from major companies and organizations and was able to give us advice we would use to refine our proposal.

Solution Review By Top Development Experts

Our team presented the final solutions a panel of expert judges from Dartmouth, the UN, the State Department, the Pentagon, and the Nigerian Embassy.

This formal presentation allowed our team to practice our skills and measure the effectiveness of our communication, all while showcasing our efforts to transform the business we had partnered with.

At the end of the presentation, we were able to receive feedback on our grant proposal for our business partner.

Over the next four weeks, our proposal would be reviewed three more times by development experts and Leadership Initiatives sponsors before being approved and put into action in the Fall of 2019!

Step-By-Step Solutions For Our Business Partner

How I Transformed A Business

1. Calculating Repair Proposals

To develop a payment tracking system, we had Adewale begin calculating each repair cost and track the parts (with costs) associated with each repair.

With the base cost of each repair calculated, Adewale could create a base repair cost to customers and adjust his prices to ensure he profited from each repair.

2. Branding

First we created a unique logo for Adewale displayed on the right.

After the logo, we worked to bring attention to the auto-repair shop through social media and local brand awareness.

This was accomplished through stickers for the bumpers of cars and creating Adewale his own Facebook Page.

My Business Plan

How I Transformed A Business

How I Transformed A Business

How I Transformed A Business

My Presentation

How I Transformed A Business

Our Presentation

Our team presented the final solutions to a panel of expert judges from Harvard, the United Nations, the State Department, the Pentagon, and the Nigerian Embassy. Our presentation received high marks and the grant for our business partner received full funding.

This formal presentation allowed our team to practice our skills and measure the effectiveness of our communication, all while showcasing our efforts to transform the business of whom we were partnered with.

My Team