Gabriela Rodriguez
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.
Bashir Bala
About Bashir
Bashir has a great passion for his work in metal fabrication. He received his training through an apprenticeship in the Yelwa community of Bauchi. He worked as an apprentice for five years before becoming an employee for the same mentor. Throughout his years as an apprentice, he learned the skills of metalwork, heat and pressure application, bonding, shielding, gas, and more. These vital skills have equipped Bashir with enough knowledge to own his aluminum and fabrication shop.
Bashir's favorite part about working in this field is that it provides him with many opportunities to innovate and enhance his thinking to bring ideas to life. He says that this job boosts his confidence and strength as a man. Lastly, Bashir believes his job is a great way to network with people from diverse fields of work and social status.
Bashir Bala
Business Goals
Bashir has several goals that he wishes to achieve through his business. He hopes for his business to become successful enough so that he can generate a good income and support his family. He dreams of building a home for his family where everyone has their own space and no one has to share rooms or bathrooms. In the future, he hopes to become a mentor for other young people in his community. He would like to share his skills and what he has learned on matters of financial freedom. Eventually, Bashir hopes to be able to take care of his parents and siblings with no financial hardships.
Bashir defines success as gaining financial independence and being able to adapt and thrive in Nigeria's continuously developing economy. Ultimately, Bashir wants to be fulfilled in the work he does.
Bashir Bala
Obstacles
Bashir has numerous obstacles to face in meeting his goals. His major challenge is a lack of adequate funds. These funds are vital for obtaining a physical location for his business, which in turn would help foster the growth of his customer base. Due to the nature of the metal fabrication business, a strategic location with a stable electric supply is essential. Additionally, as his business expands, he needs help finding reliable apprentices to help run his business. He hopes he can teach these apprentices the necessary skills to support themselves.
One day, Bashir wants to establish a school in Bauchi where he could train young people and teach them about financial independence, the importance of skill acquisition, and the harm of over-dependence on white-collar jobs. Within the next five years, Bashir would like to train at least 10 youths and fully employ one person.
Bashir Bala
Family & Home
Bashir is a 29-year-old man who was born and raised in Bauchi. He is the oldest of seven children, with a retired civil servant father and a housewife mother. He lives with his family and spends his time juggling home, school, and work. After secondary school, Bashir decided to pursue employment in the aluminum fabrication industry. He learned how to work hard at an early age and believes that learning extra skills is the best way for him to compete within society.
Now that his parents have grown older, Bashir has taken the responsibility to care for them and his younger siblings. Bashir obtained a mechanical engineering degree, he has yet to find work within his desired field of work. He continues to work at the fabrication shop and helps his father run their small provision store while he looks for other work.
Bashir Bala
Our Partnership
Bashir wanted to partner with Leadership Initiatives because he believed that it would help him establish his business and achieve success. He hopes that this partnership will give him the necessary resources and skills to set him up for success. He believes that this will bring him one step closer to his long-term goal of mentoring the youth in his community.
Bashir says "I am excited and hopeful that this partnership will equip me with the necessary resources for success."
My Grant
Proposal
Our infrastructure team consists of Aanya, Gabriela, Adam, Hudson, and Maxime, who have all been working actively with Bashir to create a comprehensive and elaborate business plan for a successful launch.
While overcoming challenges along the way, collaboration was key for the aluminum fabrication to develop. Collaborating with Bashir to interpret his vision and implement our continuously developing infrastructure was important throughout the project.
Through their innovative ideas and creative solutions, the team was determined to help Bashir achieve his goals, while at the same time allowing his passion for philanthropy to be established in his core business values.
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, Bashir , 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.