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.

Jeylin Castillo

UIC College Prep

Class of 2024

Jeylin Castillo is exhilarated to be attending the International Leadership & Business Internship during the summer of 2022. She has always had the dream and ambition to open her own business someday and this internship is a door-opening experience for her. Since she was young, Miss Castillo has been running her own small businesses and is hungry to learn more.

As a young Latinx teenage woman, Miss Castillo does the best she can. She has excellent time management skills allowing herself to participate in many programs at her school, maintain good grades, and have over 200 hours of community service. She has participated in other programs, such as Northwestern Academy for CPS students and High Jump Chicago.

In the future, Jeylin would like to open her own business in software development. Her interest in software development began in the 5th grade when she joined a coding class for web development. She learned how to work and speak with computers. With this, Jeylin is eager to learn more and learn a new computer language in order to begin working toward her dreams.

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

Annas Sani

Quick Facts

Business Partner Age: 25 years old

Business Partners Current Living Place: Sabon layin Railway Bauchi State

Marital Status: Not Married

Children: None

Type of Business: Generator Repair Business

Years Working: 20 years

Top Problems: 1) Does not repair tools of his own, 2) Cannot afford sparee parts, and 3) Spending a lot of money on transportation to and from business

Annas has always wanted to start a trade so he can make his own money and support his parents. He started as a vulcanizer, but he needed something more challenging. One day, he was passing through the local market and saw a power generator repair shop. When he got home, he told his mother about it and they went to see the boss and get an apprenticeship.

He worked as an apprentice for 12 years and learned how to repair all kinds of power generators. The moment he started, he knew this was the job for him.

He defines success as: "I count on my ability to buy land and build a house as a success. Other things I would add are the ability to support my father, siblings, and train apprentices."

About Annas

Annas wants to further his education because he knows its importance in the 21st century. He would like to get a plot of land and build his own house so that he can get married and start a family in the future. He wants his business to be successful so that he can care for his current family, his future family, and the community around him.

Business Goals

Annas is a 25-year-old young man who lives with his parents and siblings in a three-room apartment in Sabon layin Railway Bauchi State. He is single and has seven siblings (four boys and three girls). He is the second oldest.

He wakes up every morning to pray, greet his parents, bathe, eat breakfast, and go to the shop. His family has been struggling to buy enough food. His father does not have a large enough salary to feed the family, so Annas and his brother have taken it upon themselves to provide for their parents and siblings.

Family & Home

Annas says that "through the partnership with Leadership Initiatives I hope to learn more ways of managing my business, expanding my business and be able to help/benefit more young people, especially boys in my community. With the support I get from Leadership Initiatives I hope to get tools."

One day Annas hopes that his power generator repair business will employ more young people in his community to give them an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty and afford education. He hopes to open another shop in the future where he can sell new and used generators as well as spare parts. Annas believe that through his partnership with Leadership initiatives he can achieve his dreams.

Our Partnership

Anas always had a joy for putting smiles on people's faces and he wants to help others also get into this business. He found he could create this joy by helping people fix their generators. He was repairing generators for about 12 years and from the moment he started he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life doing this. Now Anas wants to create a business to help people fix generators and eventually become a successful business in the future.

Anas Powered Generators is a business started by Anas Sani to repair generators. He repairs both petrol and diesel generators and he varies between household and industrial generators. His prices are relatively cheap and range from N500 to N5000. He also gets around 10 customers per day. Anas is hoping to appeal households, commercial center, fourway stations, and irrigation framers.

Anas Power Generator is one of the only generator repairs in the area. Given this, he has little to no competition near him. Anas is able to transport himself to his customers and still do work in his shop. This allows him to do his job where he is needed. He is flexible and his work is reliable. He strives to bring comfort to his clients and do what they need. He enjoys his area of work and has had a passion for it since the age of 13. This allows him to continue growing and do what he loves.

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, Annas Sani, 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.