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.

Erica Tjandrasuwita

Quarry Lane High School

Class of 2025

Erica Tjandrasuwita is excited to be participating in the International Leadership and Business Internship this summer. She first got introduced to Leadership Initiatives (LI) through her counselor and since then she's been thrilled to have the opportunity to indulge in the aspects of business. Formulating plans, developing marketing, and sales are the things she is looking forward to the most. Erica hopes to contribute to this internship with the best of her ability.

As a freshman at Quarry Lane High School, Erica is a determined and hard-working student who focuses on her honors classes, enhancing her language, and creating new art. She also took piano lessons and played competitive soccer for 3-4 years. Erica is trilingual and wishes to pursue another language within the next couple of months and has participated in the Global Education Club and Fashion Club at her school since the beginning of the school year.

In the future, Erica would like to study Business, Finance, and Financial Management. Her interest in these topics started out through the discovery of cryptocurrency, NFTs, monetizing businesses, and investments. Based on these findings, Erica would like to bring cryptocurrency to third world countries and utilize this system to benefit them. Some countries she'd like to focus on would be Somalia, Madagascar, and Niger. By studying Business, Finance, and Financial Management, Erica is adamant on succeeding in her goal of assisting third world countries and hopes to start her journey at LI.

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

Khadija Muhammad

Quick Facts

Business Partner Age: 23 years old

Business Partners Current Living Place: Yelwa tudu kagadama

Marital Status: Not Married

Children: None

Type of Business: Tailoring Business

Years Working: 3 years

Top Problems: 1) Inconsistenty electricity, 2) Purchasing technology to start the business, and 3) Dealing with debtors

Khadija has loved fashion from a young age. She has always loved feeling confident in her clothing and wants to bring this same confidence to other women in her community. She truly enjoys bringing women happiness by giving them beautiful clothing that they can wear proudly.

Khadija started off by training in tailoring and fashion design for two years before becoming an apprentice. She hopes to open her own business that can sell affordable and beautiful clothing.

Khadija says that "success to me means being financially self reliant, financial freedom, having the freedom to acquire the things I need without restriction and gaining independence especially in owning my own business and home, getting a reliable means of transportation, paying my school fees, etc."

About Khadija

Khadija hopes to someday be able expand her business and grow its production capacity. She wants to establish a recognizable brand that can spread throughout Bauchi to reach a wider customer base. She also hopes to make enough money to further her education and get a degree. Eventually, she would like to have a house of her own.

Business Goals

Khadija is a 23-year-old young woman from Bauchi State, Nigeria. She was born into a polygamous family of 32 children; her father had 4 wives of which her mother was the first. Khadija is the youngest of the eight children her mother had before she died when Khadija was just 13.

When her older siblings got married, they left Khadija at the mercy of her stepmothers. She suffered severe ill-treatment and was forced to drop out of school in order to find a way to support herself. Her father does not bring in any income, so Khadija is forced to make money for the family.

Family & Home

Khadija says that "through this partnership I hope to get a lot of financial help to build my business especially through modern tailoring equipment. I also wish to learn more about running and managing a business, like how to attract customers, maintaining or improving quality of product, or new designs or methods, etc.

Khadija hopes to give back to her community by supporting young girls who are less opportune than her with employment opportunities and training. Khadija's dream is to go back to school, further her education, and get a degree. She believes that her partnership with LI will make this dream possible.

Our Partnership

KMA Fashion Design and Tailoring Services is a specific tailoring business in Bauchi, Nigeria because of its commitment to lower fares and closer access to the Yelwa Tuda Kagadama community. It is also one of the only female-run tailoring businesses in the area, making it more welcoming to other women. In addition, we have worked with Khadijah to create a mentorship program with young teens in her community to provide them with an opportunity to learn about running a business.

KMA Designs and Tailoring Services has access to a budget of up to $1,850 from Leadership Initiatives and will use $1,837.51. Khadijah will use the money for a new generator to fix her electricity, new equipment such as sewing machines, clothing racks, finance books, and a variety of advertising. The advertising budget is $181, and the infrastructure budget is $1,656.51. Khadijah’s clients will also be paying a downpayment when they purchase clothes so she can avoid debt in the future. The mentorship program will save Khadji money since she doesn’t pay her interns but is still getting help. The money we are providing to help her business grow hopefully will lead to her goal of being financially independent in the future.

KMA Fashion Designs and Tailoring Services provides unique clothing designs, substantial tailoring, and a mentoring program to inspire young women. Khadijah has been an apprentice for the last three years and has a great deal of experience to bring to her designs and tailoring. The mentorship program will teach young women how to run their own businesses and inspire them to create better lives for themselves.

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, Khadija Muhammad, 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.