Interned with Leadership Initiatives to improve 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 reviewed by leaders from Exxon, The United Nations, and the Nigerian Embassy to implement solutions for my business partner.

Daniela Romero

Muchin College Prep

Class of 2024

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Collaborated With A Business In The Developing World

Earned a Development Grant to Enact Solutions

Collaborated With Business Development Experts

Our team reviewed the economic, social, political, and environmental factors that impact our partner business to design a launch plan and identify how to bridge the gap between our business partner’s current and desired conditions.

In order to fund the proposed business, our team composed a detailed plan and pitched our proposal to request seed funding from the Leadership Initiatives Grant Committee.

After researching the socio-economic conditions facing our business partners, our team worked with the Nigerian development staff to create effective solutions to the challenges our business partner was facing.

My Business Consultant Training

Deborah Obalohun

Quick Facts

Business Partner Age: 56 years old

Business Partners Current Living Place: State low cost, Bauchi

Marital Status: Not Married

Children: Ruth Bello, 29 years; Richard Oloruntoba, 27 years; Precious Darry, 25 years; Damilola Obalohun, 23 years; Tunde Obalohun, 21 years; Bukola Obalohun, 19 years

Type of Business: Restaurant

Years Working: 15 years

Top Problems: 1) Lack of capital to start the business, 2) Post-Covid recovery, and 3) Old shop, old utensils, old tables and chairs

Deborah was always interested in the restaurant business. She loved watching her aunt running her own restaurant business and taking care of her family. Her aunt eventually noticed her interest and decided to train her as an apprentice.

Deborah worked for her as an apprentice for three years and learned about cooking, clients, and other restaurant business necessities. Deborah then got married and relocated to Bauchi State.

She defines success as "being self reliant and able to pay my children school fees. My husband died a long time ago and I am the one feeding the family."

About Deborah

Deborah would like to be able to employ 10 people from her community to give them an opportunity to escape the cycle of poverty. She wants her business to grow so that she can provide more opportunities to others. She would also like to be able to pay for her children to go to college and wants to be able to purchase the house she currently rents.

Business Goals

Deborah is a 56-year-old woman who lives in a rented house with her children in State Low Cost, Bauchi. Her husband died 19 years ago. She has six children (one boy and five girls), ages 19 through 29.

Every morning, she wakes up early to pray, does her house activities, eats breakfast, and goes to her shop. Through her profit from her business, she has to pay her children's school fees, pay her five employees, support her children and two orphans, and pay for a car. Since her husband died, Deborah has taken it upon herself to provide for her entire family.

Family & Home

Deborah hopes that "through my partnership with Leadership Initiatives I hope to own a restaurant once again and employ more workers to meet the capacity of my new business. I want to help other people in the community, especially women who have nothing to do. I want to serve the community with quality and affordable meals."

Deborah hopes to expand her business to provide customers with quality, affordable meals and make enough of a profit to pay for her children's school fees, clothing, her house and shop rent, and other family needs. Through her partnership with Leadership Initiatives, Deborah knows she can achieve her dreams and make a change in her community as whole.

Our Partnership

Ms. Obalohun's ambition for Unity Restaurant is to become a well-established restaurant that provides affordable meals for the citizens of Bauchi State Low Cost. Here at Leadership Initiatives, we work to provide small business owners like Ms. Obalohun with the necessary tools to thrive in Bauchi. As a single widowed mother of six children, Ms. Obalohun wants to provide for her children’s school costs as they seek higher education. Our team strives to provide resources like funds, advertising, and needed infrastructure to Ms. Obalohun's business.

Her inspiration to start Unity Restaurant stems from working as an apprentice for her Aunt’s restaurant business. Ms. Obalohun's 15 years of experience in the Nigerian restaurant industry provide her with the necessary skills to create high-quality traditional Nigerian food. Unity Restaurant has future plans of providing low-cost meals and employing more community members. Through consulting, we have identified methods that will help Ms. Obalohun establish a profitable business that will have positive ripple effects in the surrounding community of Bauchi. Ms. Obalohun has hopes to improve her management of financial operations, lower the cost of production, and develop a sustainable business model.

Unity Restaurant offers a myriad of food from multiple different cuisines and ethnicities in Nigeria. With her restaurant in Bauchi State, she offers traditional northern Nigerian food such as beans and rice. Furthermore, she cooks traditional food from the Igbo (pounded Yam) and Yoruba (Jollof Rice) tribes with the goal of creating an environment where any Nigerian entering her restaurant feels at home and comfortable breaking bread at her establishment. Ms. Obalohun's meals are of remarkable taste and ingredient quality and they each come with a side of a heartwarming experience. She has been cooking for a living for over 15 years and has honed her cooking skills to a level high enough to compete with developed restaurants in her area.

My Grant Proposal

Leadership Initiatives is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is dedicated to creating future leaders across the globe through experiential learning.

In the International Business & Development Internship, I worked directly with some of the world’s leading business and development experts to learn about international business and development.

My Grant Proposal Presentation

At the conclusion of the internship, I presented my grant proposal to a panel of distinguished judges.

Internship Highlights

Our team began the business development process by having a one-on-one Zoom call directly with our business partner, Deborah Obalohun, and Nigerian project coordinator to ensure productive collaboration.

We learned more about her life, family, and desires for the proposed business venture, as well as the challenges she was facing.

By discussing first-hand the challenges our partner faced, our team successfully and efficiently began to brainstorm solutions to launch her business.

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

I had the unique opportunity to visit the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, DC, where I learned about Sweden and its diplomatic relationship with the United States.

The current ambassador of the Swedish Embassy is Ambassador Karin Olofsdotter, who is Sweden’s first female ambassador to the United States.

While we toured the embassy, we also learned about a wide range of policy issues including climate and sustainability, trade, security and democracy, gender equality, freedom of speech and culture.

Our team met with leading experts in the field of business and economic development from the State Department, Exxon, Harvard University, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, and top US companies and nonprofits.

With their guidance, we streamlined our initial ideas to further our efforts in launching the venture our business partner envisioned.

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

These leaders included Dr. Sarah Stiles, Professor and Provost at Georgetown University, and Carla Brooks, a marketing leader and advertising expert at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication

Our team pitched the final proposal to a panel of expert judges from Harvard University, the Leadership Initiatives Nigerian Development Team, and the Leadership Initiatives Grant Committee.

This formal pitch allowed our team to practice our skills and utilize our entrepreneurial toolkit, all while showcasing our efforts to transform the business we partnered with.

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

Over the next year, our business partner’s venture will be made into reality and monitored for sustained success and growth.