BusJacksonMobbs
Jackson Mobbs
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.
Hajara Umar
About Hajara
Hajara chose to open a provision shop business to continue her family tradition. Growing up, her mother ran a provision shop where she would assist her. This existing knowledge and experience of the business gives her an edge over competitors who are new to the market. Hajara chose to work towards her own provision business because she believes it will provide her with a steady income, which will allow her to support her family while also keeping an appeasing level of work-life balance.
Hajara's favorite part of running a provision business is the freedom that it allows her to make decisions that directly impact her business and her life. Providing essential goods and services to her community members and saving them the stress of traveling to other communities for basic essentials is very fulfilling. Lastly, Hajara loves building relationships with different kinds of people and establishing relationships within her community, which is something she is able to do daily if she starts her own provisions shop.
Hajara Umar
Business Goals
Hajara typically allocates her income to ensure the well-being of her family is taken care of. This includes providing nutritious food, caring for her children, covering their school fees to ensure they receive an education, and attending to any medical bills that may arise if they fall ill. As her children get older, these costs have begun to add up, motivating Hajara to begin her provisions business. She has always wanted to invest more in her provision business and hopes that she will start saving more to allow her to do so.
Hajara hopes that one day, her business will expand and grow to a good standard of recognition within her community. Her goal is that this will involve opening additional provision stores at various locations to increase product offerings and expanding into new markets outside of Bauchi.
Hajara Umar
Obstacles
Running a provision store presents Hajara with several daunting obstacles. Firstly, she grapples with the challenge of maintaining a balanced inventory that meets customer demands without overstocking perishable items or under stocking popular products. Secondly, the fluctuating prices of goods due to market dynamics often force her to adjust pricing strategies frequently to remain competitive while protecting profit margins.
Additionally, sourcing reliable and affordable suppliers for fresh produce and grocery items poses a continual challenge, exacerbated by logistical issues and transportation constraints in Bauchi State. Hajara also navigates bureaucratic hurdles in obtaining necessary permits and licenses, which are essential for operating her provision store legally and efficiently.
Hajara Umar
Home & Family
Hajara is a forty-four-year-old woman who lives in a small rented home with her family in the Kandahar community of Bauchi. She is married to Umar Muhammad, who is a junior civil servant. She has nine children (seven girls and two boys) ranging in age from thirty-one to fourteen years old. HAjara was born in Plateau State and grew up in Kano with her grandparents.
In her daily life, Hajara doesn't do much for her family life as her children are old enough to take care of themselves. When she wakes up in the morning, she eats her breakfast, which is mostly made by the children, takes her bath, and then goes straight to her shop. She closes in the evening, eats her dinner, and chats or watches movies with her family.
Hajara Umar
Our Partnership
Hajara's husband lost his job while she was pregnant with her tenth child. Ever since the pregnancy, her health has deteriorated every day. Unfortunately, Hajara had to have a procedure afterward that cost her and her husband almost everything that they owned, including every item for the business. She can no longer afford to send her children to school. Hajara hopes that with her partnership with Leadership Initiatives, the interns will be able to provide successful ideas for her business so that she focus on its expansion. She wants to earn enough to financially support her husband and kids as well as to also empower the local community and give other women hope and confidence.
In Hajara's words, “I hope that working with Leadership Initiatives and the interns will be a great help to me, because it is a rare opportunity and I am very glad and excited about it. With this I hope to become an example to others and let them know that any support can help transform someone's life."
My Grant
Proposal
Yan Mata is a local provision shop, providing reliable service and addressing the needs of the local residents. Hajara Umar is very experienced with over 25 years in the provision store industry. Hajara’s connection to the community allows her to understand the local needs and set her shop apart from existing competitors.
In an area where advertising is minimal, Yam Mata will stand out through its punch card system, helping to build customer loyalty. Flyers and business cards will accomplish a similar goal, ultimately helping to increase visibility across the board. In spite of power outages and general electrical concerns, Hajara is committed to installing refrigerators and freezers in order to expand the product range, as well as serve the communities’ immediate needs.
At Yan Mata, we want to encourage stability and trust. Hajara’s community involvement and personal reputation strengthens the shop’s appeal as a trustworthy option for local shoppers. The vision for Yan Mata is growing the business and emphasizing financial stability. Hajara’s dedication to her family and community drives her efforts to ensure the shop becomes a valuable asset to the area.
My Grant Proposal
Presentation
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
- Ugandan Embassy
- Embassy of Switzerland
- Expert Assistance
Our team began the business development process by having a one-on-one Zoom call directly with our business partner, Hajara Umar, and our 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 their 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 Ugandan Embassy, where I learned about diplomatic relations between Uganda and the United States.
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.
Ugandan 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 Embassy of Switzerland to learn about the role that Switzerland plays in domestic and international development work. We discussed critical topics including investments, international trade, and human rights.
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.
My visit to the Embassy of Switzerland was not only educational, but inspiring. It allowed me to see Switzerland’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.