Mario Izara Rosales

District of Columbia International School
Class of 2024

Collaborated with business and development experts to improve the infrastructure and marketing strategy of a business in the developing world.

Created a proposal with viable solutions to address my business partner’s most pressing problems.

Received a grant reviewed by leaders in the fields of business and development to implement solutions for my business partner.

Learn more about Mario here.

Elizabeth James is looking forward to participating in the International Leadership & Business Internship this summer. She is excited to learn more about business and enhance her leadership and teamwork skills.

She is a rising senior at Saint Thomas Aquinas High School. She is an honor student taking Advanced Placement and Duel Enrollment classes. She participates in National Honor Society, other honor societies for different courses, clubs such as STA serves club and care club, and other extracurricular activities. She spends time volunteering for organizations such as Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Parkland Buddy Sports, and HOPE South Florida.

In the future, Elizabeth is not certain of what she would like to study. She is hoping to gain knowledge of business in order to learn if that is something she would like to pursue.

Read more about Mario’s achievements here.

My Business Consultant Training

Collaborated With A Business In The Developing World

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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

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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

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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.

Jabbir Muhammad

About Jabbir

Jabbir has had ambitions to be a cell phone repairman and salesman since he was a young boy. Jabbir grew up when Nigeria experienced a boom in cell phone usage and has always been fascinated by cell phones. For ten years, he received training in phone sales and repairs from four different mentors. This allowed him to gain experience in all aspects of the cell phone business. Through his curiosity, he was continuously able to build his skills.

Jabbir's skills have earned him respect and recognition throughout his community. Many people rely on him for everything regarding their cell phones. Jabbir has started to train young people in his community in his craft because he believes that it will empower them and facilitate the growth and development of the community's economy.

Jabbir Muhammad

Business Goals

Jabbir wants to change lives, including his own, through this business. Moving forward, he would like to serve as a role model in all things cell phone sales, services, and repairs. Through this, Jabbir hopes to contribute to positive socioeconomic transformation for his people. Additionally, he would like to expand his business to the Bauchi metropolis, which would present him with more opportunities for growth than his current location in his local market. From the expansion of his business, Jabbir believes that he will be able to employ more people throughout Bauchi, especially young people just beginning their careers.

Ultimately, Jabbir defines success as making a difference in people's lives through socioeconomic change. He aspires for people to feel the positive impact of his work, whether they be his community members, family, employees, or customers.

Jabbir Muhammad

Obstacles

Unfortunately, Jabbir faces many challenges in achieving his goals. Due to the constant innovation within the cell phone industry, the latest tools and phones are required to provide effective and efficient services. Jabbir's main struggle is the rising cost of these materials and the lack of sufficient funds to keep up with the costs. The high cost of materials has also made it difficult for Jabbir to penetrate new markets with his services. This has hindered his expansion.

Additionally, Jabbir has to deal with an inefficient power supply. This makes it difficult to run his business at times because he cannot conduct work on cell phones without a power supply. Despite these challenges, Jabbir is optimistic that he will be able to overcome these obstacles and achieve his goals through his partnership with Leadership Initiatives.

Jabbir Muhammad

Family & Home

Jabbir is a 26-year-old man living in Bauchi with his wife and child. He comes from a large family and has eight siblings. Though he has his own family to think of, he still works hard to provide for his siblings and mother. His father died nearly 20 years ago and the family has been struggling to get by ever since. Though Jabbir wanted to further his education, he was unable to due to a lack of financial resources. He wants to change his family's life and break the cycle of economic hardship.

Every morning, Jabbir leads his family in the morning prayer. He ensures that they have everything they need for the day and heads off to run his business. Though Jabbir is currently able to provide for his family's basic needs, the rising cost of business and dwindling customer base has presented financial strain.

Jabbir Muhammad

Our Partnership

Jabbir believes he can change many people's lives through his cell phone repair business and partnership with Leadership Initiatives. He believes that this partnership will assist him in growing his business and in turn support his community through employment opportunities. He is excited to begin this partnership and grow his business so that he can empower his people with technical and operational skills.

Jabbir says "I am grateful for Leadership Initiatives and the program interns for this wonderful opportunity, this is indeed a lifelong opportunity that will change my life and my people's economic fortunes."

My Grant
Proposal

The Advertising Team has worked strenuously to give Jabir the business of his dreams. The Advertising Team has created a professional and clean logo, business cards, signs, bumper stickers, and flyers to help draw people to Jabir’s business.

This grant can change Jabir’s life and the lives of his family. Investing can end the endless cycle of property within his family and when he expands he can host classes and open more “Jahmadish Global Enterprises” which can add jobs for other Nigerians. Jabir is known for his quality in his work, he wants to do the work he just needs a opportunity and you can provide that for him.

Jahmad Global Enterprise will be a cell phone repair business located in Bauchi, Nigeria. The business operation will be run by Jabir Ahmad, who also plans to hire more people to help out his business. The main service Jabir will provide in his business is repairing phones within the shopping district he currently works in. He also sells cell phones as another service option to his customers.

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

Our team began the business development process by having a one-on-one Zoom call directly with our business partner, Jabbir Ahmad , 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.