Shelby Carter
My Business Consultant Training
Collaborated With A Business In The Developing World
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.
Earned a Development Grant to Enact Solutions
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.
Collaborated With Business Development Experts
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.
Nafisa Ladan Aliyu
About Nafisa
Nafisa is a newly trained makeup artist. Over the course of 18 months, she received a comprehensive education in this skill through her mentor, a well-establish makeup artist in Wunti Market. During this time, she learned how to do casual makeup for short events, as well as long-lasting makeup for events such as weddings, naming ceremonies, and political rallies. Nafisa was eventually able to obtain hands-on practice with high-value clients.
Makeup is very important for the women in Nafisa's community, but they do not have easy access to makeup shops or artists. This is part of the reason why Nafisa chose to pursue an apprenticeship with a makeup artist. Though she feels that some of her work is not fairly compensated, Nafisa finds immense joy in helping women feel beautiful and confident.
Nafisa Ladan Aliyu
Business Goals
Nafisa envisions a future business where she remains up to date with trends, collaborates with influencers to promote her business, provides top-tier customer service, offers diversified products, and develops a strong brand for her business. She also wants to continue being a role model for the young members of her community. Though Nafisa is concerned about making her business profitable so she can go back to school, she defines success as being able to support others and do good for her community.
As the eldest child in her family, Nafisa shoulders a heavy responsibility. She must consider the well-being of her younger siblings, especially as they grow older and the cost of supporting them grows larger. Nafisa also worries about her mother, who is a housewife with no income of her own. She is determined to create a successful business to provide for the people that she loves.
Nafisa Ladan Aliyu
Obstacles
Nafisa envisions a future business where she remains up to date with trends, collaborates with influencers to promote her business, provides top-tier customer service, offers diversified products, and develops a strong brand for her business. She also wants to continue being a role model for the young members of her community. Though Nafisa is concerned about making her business profitable so she can go back to school, she defines success as being able to support others and do good for her community.
Nafisa Ladan Aliyu
Home & Family
Nafisa is a 21-year-old woman who lives with her large family in Bauchi. Her father, a businessman, is married to two full-time housewives. Together, they have 21 children and Nafisa is the eldest among them. Though some of the children are pursuing formal education, others have chosen to follow in their father's footsteps and have become involved in a variety of different business endeavors.
Each morning, Nafisa takes care of household chores such as sweeping, doing the dishes, tidying up her room, and preparing breakfast. Though Nafisa obtained her National Diploma in Civil Law, she was unable to complete the schooling necessary to become a lawyer due to a lack of support. For now, Nafisa assists the owner of a nearby makeup studio, as it allows her to enhance her skills. One day, she hopes to continue her education to become a lawyer through her business's profits.
As the eldest child in her family, Nafisa shoulders a heavy responsibility. She must consider the well-being of her younger siblings, especially as they grow older and the cost of supporting them grows larger. Nafisa also worries about her mother, who is a housewife with no income of her own. She is determined to create a successful business to provide for the people that she loves.
Nafisa Ladan Aliyu
Our Partnership
In the future, Nafisa hopes to further her education, stay updated with trends, collaborate with influencers to promote her business, provide excellent customer service, develop a diverse product range, and build a strong brand. She believes that achieving her goals would enable her to provide high-quality services to her customers and that through a partnership with Leadership Initiatives, she will be able to achieve her goals.
Nafisa says "I hope to become an example for others to know that with a little push, some help, and a bit of faith we can achieve success. That we will create job opportunities for citizens thereby reducing crime rates and other social vices."
My Grant
Proposal
The Infrastructure team is comprised of Sanaa Arora, Saanve Bathula, Shelby Carter, Adrian Molina, Aashvi Shah, and Maxim Timmermans, who all aided Nafisa Aliyu, a makeup artist based in Bauchi, Nigeria, to gather information regarding her current makeup services and her plans to expand her business, Feenah Glamour.
As the Infrastructure Team for Nafisa’s makeup service, Feenah Glamour, we were tasked with creating a budget and official financial tracking system, determining a preferable location which will increase business, and creating reasonable prices to survive in a highly competitive area.
With their combined expertise, the infrastructure team is determined in supporting Nafisa’s vision and implementing innovative solutions to aid Feenah Glamour.
My Grant Proposal
Presentation
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 Leadership and Business Internship, I worked directly with some of the world’s leading developmental experts in order to build my partners business and brand.
At the conclusion of this internship, our team pitched the final proposal to a panel of esteemed judges from 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.
Internship Highlights
- Business Meeting
- Swedish Embassy
- International Monetary Fund
- Expert Assistance
Our team began the business development process by having a one-on-one Zoom call directly with our business partner, Nafisa Ladan Aliyu , and Nigerian project coordinator to ensure productive collaboration.
We learned more about their life, family, and desires for the proposed business venture, as well as the challenges they were 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.
The on-staff project coordinators and business development experts helped facilitate the ideation process and ensured our team asked the right questions to produce tangible results.
I had the unique opportunity to visit the Swedish Embassy, where I learned about diplomatic relations between Sweden and the United States.
While touring the embassy, I learned about the wide range of policy issues and gained a better understanding of the embassy’s role in international development through sustainable and inclusive initiatives.
The embassy serves as a hub for collaboration with partner countries and international organizations, which facilitates the creation of solutions to address global issues, such as poverty, gender inequality, and climate change.
Swedish diplomats and officials work closely with local communities to identify needs and design programs that empower individuals and enhance overall societal well-being. This community-centered problem-solving is something my team and I aspired towards while crafting our business proposal.
I also visited the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which plays a crucial role in promoting financial stability throughout the world, facilitating trade, and providing financial support to member countries during economic hardship.
For over 50 years, the IMF has provided capacity development programs that drive effective economic management and policy implementation through technical assistance and training.
The IMF’s research-driven policymaking and dedication to sustainable economic management has established it as a key power in addressing global economic issues.
My visit to the IMF was not only educational, but inspiring. It allowed me to see the institution’s pivotal role in advancing international development and how I can implement their ideals into my own work.
Our team met with leading experts in the fields of business and economic development from Johns Hopkins University, the State Department, and GlobalGiving.
One such expert was Carla Brooks, Business and Development Officer at Johns Hopkins Center for Communications Program. She provided us with a crash course in advertising and marketing, in which we learned essential components of an effective marketing campaign.
Our work with Ms. Brooks was essential in preparing us for our culminating pitch deck presentation. With her and other expert guidance, we streamlined our initial ideas to further our efforts in launching the venture our business partner envisioned.
By the end of the week, we had incorporated the advice of leading experts from across the globe for our business proposal to empower and transform the life of our business partner.